U8RARY 


CALIFORNIA 
SAN  DIEGO 


presented  to  the 
UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY 
UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
SAN  DIEGO 

by 


Tom  Ham 


The  Storj  of  a  Millennial  Realm,  and  Its  Law. 


By  FRANK  ROSEWATER. 


"They  shall  not  build,  and  another  inhabit;  they  shall  not  plant,  and 
another  eat."— ISAIAH,  LXV.,  22. 

"Behold,  the  hire  of  the  labourers  who  have  reaped  down  your  fields, 
which  is  of  you  kept  back  by  fraud,  cri«th;  and  the  cries  of  them  that  have 
reaped  are  entered  into  the  ears  of  the  Lord  of  sabaoth."— JAMES,  V.,  4. 


GENTRY  PUBLISHING  CO. 

OMAHA,    NKBR. 


COPYRIGHT,  1908,  BY  FRANK  ROSEWATER. 


"  *  *  *  would  to  Heaven  I  could  persuade  you  of 
this  world-old  fact  *  *  That  Truth  and  Justice  alone  are 
capable  of  being  'conserved'  and  preserved!  The  thing  which  is 
unjust,  which  is  not  according  to  God's  Law,  will  you,  in  a 
God's  Universe,  try  to  conserve  that?  It  is  old,  say  you?  Yes, 
and  the  hotter  haste  ought  you,  of  all  others,  to  be  in  to  let  it 
grow  no  older!  *  *  hasten  for  the  sake  of  conservatism  itself, 
to  probe  it  vigorously,  to  cast  it  forth  at  once  and  forever  if 
guilty." — Thomas  Carlyle. 


"We  shall  never  win  for  our  Master  the  allegiance  of  the 
strong  men  of  this  world  until  we  show  them  that  he  has  the 
power  and  the  purpose  to  rule  the  shop  and  the  factory  and  the 
counting  room  as  well  as  the  church  and  the  home." — Rev. 
Washington  Gladden. 


"  *  *  You  are  not  true  soldiers,  if  you  only  mean 
to  stand  at  a  shop  door,  to  protect  shopboys  who  are  cheating 
inside.  A  soldier's  vow  to  his  country  is  that  he  will  die  for  the 
guardianship  of  her  domestic  virtue,  of  her  righteous  laws,  and 
of  her  anyway  challenged  or  endangered  honor.  A  state  with- 
out virtue,  without  laws,  and  without  honor,  he  is  bound  not  to 
defend;  nay,  bound  to  redress  by  his  own  right  hand  that  which 
he  sees  to  be  base  in  her." — John  Ruskin. 


THE  ROBERTS  PTG.  CO.,  OMAHA,  NEBR. 


PREFACE. 


While  identical  in  purpose  with  Socialism,  the  system  on 
which  this  story  is  founded  is  nevertheless  so  much  at  variance 
with  it  in  diagnosis  as  well  as  in  the  remedy  to  be  applied,  that 
a  separate  name  was  regarded  appropriate,  and  adopted.  Attrib- 
uting capitalism  to  the  fact  that  under  the  division  of  labor  at- 
tending all  advanced  states  of  industry,  the  consumer  and  pro- 
ducer are  helplessly  severed,  and  in  consequence  subjected  to 
repellent  and  predatory  influences,  the  proposed  system,  called 
Centrisin,  mends  this  unfortunate  breach  by  supplying  a  medium 
through  which  to  unite  them.  This. medium  is  a  currency  re- 
quired to  be  given  in  acknowledgment  of  patronage  to  all  con- 
sumers, and  constituting  orders  on  trade  or  jobs,  all  of  which 
are  thus  conserved  exclusively  for  the  consumer,  as  the  sole 
creator  and  owner  of  them.  The  exclusion  of  the  non-consumer 
from  all  industrial  opportunities,  as  well  as  from  the  competi- 
tion for  them,  at  one  and  the  same  time  establishes  a  true  ratio 
of  supply  and  demand,  correct  values,  and  a  just  distribution  of 
wealth.  Instead  of  eradicating  private  property,  Centrism  thus 
extends  its  sphere  so  as  to  include  property  in  jobs, — the  ex- 
posure of  which  to  predatory  rapine  being  the  well  spring  of 
capitalism. 

To  the  great  truths  brought  to  light  by  socialistic  doctrines, 
as  well  as  to  lessons  derived  from  the  American  protective  sys- 
tem, the  author  is  especially  indebted,  as  stepping  stones  leading 
to  the  ideas  embodied  in  Centrism. 

In  picturing  Temploria  as  an  ideal  realm,  there  was  no  in- 
tention of  dogmatic  insistence  upon  this  particular  form  of  con- 
struction, the  aim  being  merely  to  display  some  of  the  possibil- 
ities of  Centrism  in  contrast  with  prevailing  industrial  condi- 
tions. F.  R. 

Omaha,  Neb.,  December,  1907. 


CONTENTS. 


Chapter  Page 

I.  The  Millennial  Secret  9 

II.  The  Quest  of  Labor's  Knighthood  34 

III.  The  City  of  Red  Cross       -  43 

IV.  A  Youthful  Wage  Earner  -  55 
V.  Everybody's  Sabbath  70 

VI.  A  Career  of  Forgeries  80 

VII.  Spectacular  Coloria  96 

VIII.  Prior  to  Centrism    -  105 

IX.  The  Great  Transition  Era  123 

X.  To  Edenize  the  Outworld  140 

XL  Where  Art  Thou,  Adam     -  154 

XII.  Homeward  Bound                 -            -  166 


The  Modern  Prometheus. 


CHAPTER  I. 
The  Millennial  Secret. 

"     *        *        foul  deeds  will  rise, 

Though  all  the  earth  o'erwhelm  them,  to  men's  eyes." 

— Shakespeare. 

"Property  in  jobs  as  well  as  in  products  is  the 
corner  stone  of  our  millennium,"  declared  Grandpa 
Zeke.  "Upon  this  rock  of  justice  is  planted  the 
temple  of  our  industrial  state.  This  crowning  glory, 
property  in  jobs,  sheds  upon  our  hearths  the  light  of 
peace,  the  spirit  of  progress  and  the  joys  of  pros- 
perity. Our  millennium  is  indeed  so  wonderful,  I 
can  only  hint  the  fullness  of  its  blessings;  but  if 
you'll  bring  your  chairs  nearer,  I'll  tell  you  more 
about  it. ' ' 

The  few  hours  transpired  since  our  arrival  in 
this  realm  had  been  one  round  of  great  surprises 
and  amazing  visions;  the  reader  may  therefore 
imagine  the  eagerness  with  which  we  responded  to 
the  patriarch's  request. 

"Our  blissful  state  of  prosperity,"  the  vener- 
able speaker  resumed,  "is  due  entirely  to  the  fact 
that  we  recognize  the  consumer  as  the  sole  creator, 
and  therefore  the  sole  owner  of  jobs.  We  not  only 
conserve  his  jobs  for  him,  but  by  excluding  the  non- 
consumer  from  the  competition  fOr  jobs,  we  enable 
him  to  secure  the  freeman's  wage — the  full 
product. ' ' 

"A  capital  idea!"  exclaimed  Joseph  Carson, 
formerly  a  steel  magnate,  from  Philadelphia.  "  It 


10 


The  Making  of  a  Millennium. 


is  certainly  a  striking  departure,  differing  from  any- 
thing I  ever  heard  of.  But  how  in  the  world  do  you 
parcel  out  your  jobs  so  as  to  distinguish  the  con- 
sumer from  the  non-consumer?  ' 

11  We  make  the  consumer  prove  his  claim,  " 
was  the  response,  "  through  the  payment  of  centry. 
Oh,  I  forgot  to  say,  centry  is  a  currency  we  use  in 
acknowledging  the  receipt  of  patronage.  It  is  given 
to  the  buyer — one  centret  for  every  dollar  he  parts 
with." 


I  UNITED  TEMPLES  o/TEMPLORIA. 


%6>  'Deafer  is  entiZfedJapcLfronageJa  T/ie 
Amount  of  DM  DOLLAR,  upon  surrender  offfushitt  t 


A  Templorian  Centret. 

"The  centret  is  an  order  on  jobs — an  order  in 
fact,  on  any  trade  or  patronage,"  explained  our 
host,  Robert  Manoah,  a  son  of  Grandpa  Zeke,  "just 
as  a  dollar  is  an  order  on  commodities  or  services. 
Under  Centrism,  you  see,  we  never  part  with  one 
dollar  without  receiving  a  handle  to  the  next.  We 
don't  regard  a  doJlar  as  honest,  if  it  fails  to  fulfill 
this  obligation  to  the  consumer.  We  consider  the 
cycle  of  trade  too  sacred  to  be  violated;  for  trade 
must  go  on;  it  must  keep  pace  with  the  ceaseless 
hunger  of  human  want — a  perpetual  cycle  of  need, 


The  Millennial  Secret.  11 

to  supply  which  Nature  has  amply  provided  for. 
There  is  a  God-made  union  of  wants  and 
means,  which  only  man's  ignorance  and  avarice 
sever ;  and  it  is  against  the  severance,  of  this  sacred 
bond  that  Centrism  aims." 

" Indeed,  I  have  heard  it  said,"  interposed  Mrs. 
Robert  Manoah,  "that  outside  of  Temploria  the  con- 
sumer is  given  no  claim  on  opportunities,  and  he  is 
even  told  that, — coming  as  a  consumer, — he  must 
have  previously  had  his  opportunity.  Such  stupid- 
ity !  It  was  like  telling  a  starving  man  that  since  he 
was  still  alive,  he  must  have  had  food  last  week,  and 
therefore  should  now  go  without  food.  With  such 
idiocy  dominating  the  fundamental  laws  of  their 
system,  what  wonder  their  lofty  ideals  so  often 
proved  to  be  a  mere  mask  of  villainy. ' ' 

' '  The  freedom  with  which  the  circle  of  outworld 
trade  could  be  broken,",  resumed  Grandpa  Zeke, 
"was  a  caution!  If  a  cloud  of  mistrust  passed  over 
the  land,  everybody  at  once  became  a  non-consumer, 
thus  cutting  the  cables  of  trade  at  all  points  and 
wrecking  its  mechanism,  till  starvation  and  riot 
filled  the  land  with  horror.  The  license  permitted  in 
cutting  the  life  chords  of  trade  formed  a  terrible 
weapon  in  the  hands  of  the  selfish  and  unscrupulous. 
It  was  a  power  to  exile  men  from  industry — to 
starve,  to  kill,  and  between  such  vile  alternatives  to 
plunder  men — a  piratic  power,  placing  at  the  helm 
of  state  the  skull  and  cross  bones  of  unrestrained 
vandalism.  Thanks  to  Centrism,  such  horrors  are 
unknown  in  Temploria.  Here  the  circle  of  trade  is 
never  broken,  and  no  man  must  ever  remain  idle.'' 

"Begging  your  pardon,  my  dear  sir,"  ejacu- 
lated the  former  steel  magnate,  "I  realty  fail  to  see 


12  The  Making  of  a  Millennium. 

it  in  that  light.  In  my  country  any  one  can  get  work, 
whether  he  has  centry  or  no. ' ' 

' 'Quite  true,  quite  true;"  responded  the  aged 
Templorian,  "but  of  a  kind,  that  slaves  get  such  a 
plenty  of — on  mere  subsistence  terms.  They  get 
slave  work,  but  not  freeman's  work — afc  the  full- 
product  wage.  What  you  referred  to  as  getting  wqrk 
without  centry  was  in  reality  being  kept  out  of  one 's 
job — out  of  the  freeman's  full-product  work — dis- 
employed — and  only  allowed  the  alternative  of  either 
starving  or  slaving.  In  reality  you  had  to  work  two 
days  without  pay  as  the  price  paid  for  each  day  al- 
lowed to  work  wholly  for  yourselves.  Was  that  any- 
thing less  than  slavery?" 

"I  see  how  it  works,"  exclaimed  Doctor  Rem- 
ington, who  had  been  an  eager  listener.  "When  jobs 
are  given  exclusively  to  consumers,  the  jobs  never 
run  short — the  consumer  always  creating  a  labor 
demand  proportional  to  that  he  supplies  with  his 
labor.  The  non-consumer,  on  the  other  hand, 
creates  no  demand — merely  exhausting  the  supply 
of  jobs  and  trade,  and  depriving  the  consumers  of 
jobs  rightfully  belonging  to  them.  Not  only  this, 
but  by  their  unwarranted  participation  in  the  com- 
petition, they  cause  a  spurious  disparity  between 
supply  and  demand,  and  a  short  valuation  of  labor, 
that  both  robs  and  enslaves  the  consumer.  As  I  see  it, 
the  intrusion  of  the  non-consumer  is  in  effect  a  bur- 
glary of  the  consumer's  opportunities  and  a  concur- 
rent plunder  of  his  wage.  One  might  equally  as  well 
break  into  the  consumer's  house  and  carry  off  his 
valuables. ' ' 

"The  situation,  "said  Robert  Manoah,  "sug- 
gests to  me  a  bound  Prometheus — a  helpless  Titan, 


The  Millennial  Secret.  13 

whom  the  blade  of  abstinence  has  exposed  to  the 
devouring  greed  of  innumerable  parasites  from 
within  and  vultures  from  without.  The  wide  gap  it 
has  ripped  between  consumer  and  producer  has 
drawn  between  them  the  breed  of  multitudinous 
grafts  that  leech  industry  and  against  whose  greed 
the  employer  himself  is  helpless.  What  is  the  em- 
ployer? A  mere  puppet  in  the  fierce  whirlpool  of 
trade.  Is  it  not  clear  that  the  employer  is  taxed  with 
grafts  in  the  hire  of  capital,  in  rents,  in  the  carrying 
of  credits,  in  the  cost  of  materials,  in  the  cost  of  se- 
curing trade,  and  in  a  thousand  lesser  forms — for 
all  of  which  he,  as  a  middleman,  is  obliged  to  either 
tax  the  consumer  and  reimburse  himself,  or  else  get 
out  of  business  ? ' ' 

"I  trust  no  one  will  misconstrue  Centrism,"  ex- 
plained Grandpa  Zeke,  "as  opposing  the  accumula- 
tion of  wealth.  Far  from  it.  It  aims  not  to  check 
savings  for  future  use,  but  rather  to  encourage  them 
by  the  removal  of  all  unjust  impediments  and  all  ex- 
traneous influences  tending  to  dispossess  men  of 
their  wealth.  A  man  may  save  without  becoming  a 
non-consumer,  provided  he  keep  within  the  limits  of 
his  own  present  or  future  use  of  things,  acquiring 
his  own  home  and  his  own  share  of  operative  wealth. 
Such  wealth  is  not  capital,  nor  does  it  abridge  the 
privilege  to  accumulate  on  the  part  of.  others.  But 
when  men  place  no  limit  to  their  accumulations, 
forestalling  the  opportunities  of  others  and  either 
indirectly,  in  the  guise  of  investment,  lending  their 
surplus  to  the  depleted  multitude,  or  making  direct 
loans  of  money,  for  the  sake  of  profits,  they  are  cap- 
italists, and  to  that  extent  also  non-consumers— 
economic  vandals  and  robbers." 


14 


The  Making  of  a  Millennium. 


"Capitalism,  no  doubt,  involves  grave  abuses," 
Mr.  Carson  apologetically  remarked,  "but  what  sys- 
tem is  faultless?  And  who  will  dispute  the  inestim- 
able service  it  has  rendered  industry  ? ' ' 

"Every  brigand  delivers  an  inestimable  ser- 
vice," responded  Grandpa  Zeke,  "whenever  an  ab- 


CHILDREN  RELEASED 
SUBJECT  TO 
RETURN  DOUB 
IN  NUMBER 
EVERY S 
YZARS. 


An  Inestimable  Service. 

ducted  child  is  restored  to  its  mother.  The  question 
of  liis  authority  to  abduct  is  nevertheless  pertinent. 
No  one  questions  the  service  rendered  in  allowing 
men  to  slave  in  preference  to  starving;  but  I  fear 
there  are  some  who  will  question  the  authority  on 
which  the  poor  man's  opportunities  are  abducted 
and  withheld  for  ransom.  Yes,  and  a  worse  form  of 
ransom  than  brigands  are  accustomed  to  exact;  for 
capital  merely  lends  the  abducted  child,  requiring  a 


The  Millennial  Secret.  15 

return,  after  a  period  doubled  in  number.    The  wel- 
comed return  of  an  abducted  child  should  not  be  con- 

* 

strued  as  a  glorification  of  abduction." 

' '  A  greater  brigandage  than  capitalism, ' '  added 
our  hostess,  "were  unimaginable.  Extending  from 
the  dim  ages  of  the  past,  its  insidious  rapine  has 
ever  been  widening  the  gulf  between  rich  and  poor 
and  injecting  into  the  body  of  society  the  most  re- 
pellent and  hideous  forces — wars  and  rebellions,  riot 
and  corruption,  in  every  form — all  the  bitter  fruits 
of  hate  and  malice,  of  greed  and  envy.  Its  brazen 
abstinence,  like  the  claws  of  a  mighty  beast,  have 
rent  the  industrial  world  into  bleeding  fragments 
and  poisoned  its  blood  with  festering  sores." 

"In  comparison  with  capitalism,"  resumed 
Grandpa  Zeke,  "Centrism  is  as  the  light  unto  the 
darkness — its  very  antithesis.  Instead  of  repelling 
consumer  and  producer,  and  in  their  helpless  sep- 
aration subjecting  them  to  an  ever-increasing  in- 
fliction of  predatory  rapine,  Centrism  closes  the  gap 
between  consumer  and  producer,  causing  trade  to 
spin  in  one  continuous  round  of  consuming  and  pro- 
duction— an  unbreakable  chain  of  industrial  activ- 
ity, in  perfect  harmony  with  the  ceaseless  and  un- 
bounded hunger  of  human  want.  There  are  no  un- 
certain notes  in  her  trade — neither  hysterics  nor 
paralytic  strokes — nor  the  froth  and  foam  of  de- 
lusive wealth  that  betray  and  misapply  efforts. 
Every  latent  energy  is  liberated  and  directed  to  ef- 
fective service,  through  the  searching  eye  of  its  un- 
fettered demand." 

"What  a  grand  engine,"  exclaimed  Robert 
Manoah,  "is  the  unfettered  demand  of  Centrism. 
What  a  power  it  wields,  with  every  living  energy 


16 


The  Making  of  a  Millennium. 


The  Millennial  Secret.  17 

resurrected  and  brought  under  full  steam;  with  all 
her  mechanism  in  full  accord  and  harmony,  and  re- 
lieved of  all  parasitical  impediments  and  super- 
fluous burdens — all  the  drags  and  pullback  in- 
fluences of  capitalism.  Compare  this  with  the  irra- 
tional crankiness  of  the  engine  of  capitalism,  whose 


A  Sad  Predicament. 


source  of  power — abstinence — is  repellent,  discord- 
ant, paralyzing — a  very  ripsaw  of  industrial  an- 
archy. See  all  its  unabsorbed  surpluses  of  redund- 
ant product  injected  between  the  wheels  of  the  in- 
dustrial mechanism,  impeding  it  everywhere  and 
jarring  its  every  fiber.  Look  at  its  vast  burdens  of 
idol  wealth — the  gods  of  mammon — dead  inutilities 
that  tax  the  blind  worshippers  with  sacrifices  of  en- 
ormous energy.  Against  all  these  impediments  have 


18  The  Making  of  a  Millennium. 

the  forces  of  heart  and  hand  and  brain, — the  spirit 
of  science,  art  and  morality — to  strive,  in  pushing 
onward  the  train  of  Progress;  and  what  speed  this 
train  has  ever  made,  whatever  distance  it  has  con- 
quered, has  been  in  spite  of  the  retarding  influence 
x)f  this  backward-pulling  engine  of  capitalism — 
this  ditcher  of  nations  and  slayer  of  men. ' ' 

"It  seems  to  me,"  declared  Richard  Burton,  a 
Boston  labor  leader,  "as  if  opportunity  might  well 
be  compared  with  a  horse  in  the  hands  of  the  horse- 
thief,  who — being  now  mounted — enslaves  the  dis- 
mounted owner  of  the  horse  through  this  advantage 
he  holds  over  him;  and  afterward  he  perpetuates 
his  mastery  through  the  whip  of  short  demand,  in 
his  hand." 

"In  my  mind's  eye,"  remarked  Mark  Oswald, 
a  St.  Louis  socialist,  "I  can  see  King  Capital  as  an 
'Old  Man  of  the  Sea,'  with  his  bloated  paunch  of 
redundant  wealth,  and  with  his  iron  limbs  clutched 
around  the  slender-shanked  Sinbad  of  industry. 
Poor  Sinbad !  I  can  see  him  staggering  and  reeling 
with  "his  overwhelming  burden  and  his  unbalanced 
supporting  limbs.  I  can  see  the  awkward  contor- 
tions of  those  uneven  limbs — the  lengthy  limb  of 
supply  and  the  abreviated  stump  of  demand,  fran- 
tically lunging  in  all  directions  in  their  difficult  task 
of  reciprocating  to  each  other.  What  a  devil's  own 
march  they  lead  our  industrial  Sinbad — now  drag- 
ging heavily  and  anon  floundering  madly  in  spas- 
modic zeal,  and  half  the  time  laying  him  flat  on  his 
back  in  the  mires  of  depression,  paralyzed  with  un- 
certainty or  bathed  in  the  blood  of  revolution  or 
war.  Following-  his  steps  like  a  haunting  shadow 
stalks  the  ever-present  Ogre  of  Abstinence,  paternal 


The  Millennial  Secret. 


19 


The  Industrial  Sinbad. 


20  The  Making  of  a  Millennium. 

ancestor  of  the  King,  hacking  with  his  uplifted  axe 
of  non-consuming,  slice  after  slice  from  the  stumpy 
limb  of  our  staggering  Sinbad.  What  hope  that 
crippled  industry  will  ever  be  able  to  walk  erect  or 
keep  out  of  the  hell-ditch  of  depression,  as  long  as 
that  one-eyed  fiend  is  permitted  to  follow,  axe  in 
hand,  in  his  wake — hacking  and  hacking  at  his  short- 
demand  limb,  depleting  his  blood,  and  paralyzing  his 
energies  as  the  years  roll  by. ' ' 

"The  more  I  think  of  it,"  ejaculated  Doctor 
Remington,  "the  more  I  admire  the  surgery  of 
Centrism.  How  beautifully  it  seams  the  gap  be- 
tween consumer  and  producer.  There  is  no  blind 
tugging  and  tearing  at  the  wound.  There  is  no  de- 
lusive shifting  of  the  sphere  of  disease.  It  goes  right 
to  the  source,  in  the  foreign  wedges  of  abstention — 
those  malignant  tormentors  and  tyrants  that  attack 
the  living  tissues  and  pester  and  distort  the  growth 
of  the  industrial  body  with  their  life-sapping  and 
corruption-bred  tumors.  Centrism,  by  the  expulsion 
of  these  venomous  intruders  from  the  befouled  sys- 
tem, leaves  Nature  undisturbed;  and  the  wounds  of 
industry,  thoroughly  cleansed,  simply  close  and  heal 
themselves." 

* '  The  system  impresses  me, ' '  added  Miss  Helen 
Oswald,  Mark's  sister,  "as  an  admirable  scheme  to 
keep  money  in  circulation.  I'm  satisfied  it  must  pre- 
vent hoarding  and  make  the  exaction  of  usury  im- 
possible." 

"Centrism  prevents  usury  in  any  form,"  re- 
responded  the  venerable  Templorian,  "whether  as 
investment  profits,  as  land  rents  or  as  plain  interest 
— that  is,  when  evasion  through  capitalistic  invest- 
ment is  effectually  prohibited." 


The  Millennial  Secret.  21 


. . 


'I  fail  to  see  why  such  investments  should  be 
regarded  as  evasions,"  the  Philadelphian  remon- 
strated. "Are  they  not  preferable  to  money  hoard- 
ing I" 

"That  is  very  true,"  was  the  prompt  response, 
"but  because  one  evil  is  preferable  to  another  is  no 
reason  why  it  should  be  desired.  The  mere  use  of 
centry  will  prevent  money  hoarding;  so  that  evil 
is  out  of  the  question.  Capitalistic  investments, 
however,  are  another  form  of  hoarding — property- 
hoarding — and  if  licensed,  it  were  equivalent  to  al- 
lowing the  makers  of  these  investments  to  derive 
centry  on  the  strength  of  consuming  done  by  others. 
It  is  the  occupants  of  buildings  and  the  users  of  the 
products  of  factories  who  are  the  REAL  consumers 
of  these  properties,  and  not  the  investors  or  owners. 
The  owner  is  merely  the  servant  and  agent  of  the 
consumer — the  consumer  both  using  and  paying  for 
the  wear  of  the  properties — and  being  debarred 
from  possession  for  want  of  the  full  measure  of  op- 
portunity as  well  as  of  his  rightful  earnings.  Pro- 
hibiting capitalistic  investments  is  simply  a  way  of 
protecting  the  consumer  in  the  possession  of  the  in- 
vestment opportunity  belonging  to  him  as  actual 
user  of  of  the  property. ' ' 

"Patronage  deserves  a  better  reward  than 
smiles  and  curtesies,"  concluded  Robert  Manoah. 
"It  is  a  sad  reflection  to  note  how  the  outworld 
workman  will  content  himself  with  smiles  for  his 
patronage  while  his  children  starve  at-home  with 
frowns  and  beatings  added  to  their  hunger.  Thank 
heaven  the  industries  of  Temploria  constitute  an 
honest  job  bank.  Here  every  consumer  is  regarded 
as  a  job  depositor  and  is  given  centry  as  his  deposit 


22 


The  Making  of  a  Millennium. 


slip;  and  through  these  he  can  draw  at  will  on  the 
general  job  supply  as  one  would  draw  on  his  own 
bank  account.  The  jobs  are  sacredly  conserved  for 
the  job  depositors — the  consumers — no  non-con- 
sumer being  permitted  to  draw  on  them  any  more 
than  a  non-depositor  would  be  permitted  to  draw  on 
the  deposits  of  any  honest  bank.  Our  industrial  sys- 


Smiles  for  Patronage. 

tern  is  not  a  mere  trick  bank  like  the  industries  of 
capitalism — always  open  to  receive  the  trade-creat- 
ing, job-producing  patronage  of  the  consumer,  and 
always  closed  to  drafts  on  the  jobs.  The  great  cap- 
tains of  its  industry  lack  the  supreme  wit  by  which 
to  seize  the  entire  job  deposits  and  exploit  them  un- 
der a  'free'  competition  open  to  every  non-con- 
sumer, to  be  had  only  on  such  terms  as  ancient  pris- 
oners accepted  for  the  privilege  of  living — slavery 
— bare  subsistence. ' ' 


The  Millennial  Secret. 


23 


24  The  Making  of  a  Millennium. 

1  'It's  the  old  story  over  again,"  remarked 
Mark  Oswald,  "in  which  the  powers  of  the  people 
entrusted  in  the  hands  of  the  monarch  for  purposes 
of  government  are  feloniously  appropriated  and  the 
State  becomes  'Me.'  In  the  case  of  capitalism  it's 
the  industrial  state  that  is  paternalistically  swal- 
lowed and  becomes  'Me.' 

Our  hostess  here  announced  a  brief  intermis- 
sion for  refreshments;  and  thereupon,  flourishing 
aloft  a  dainty  wand — evidently  as  a  signal — the 
room  suddenly  responded,  as  if  by  magic,  passing 
through  a  wonderful  metamorphosis  and  merging 
by  degrees  into  a  veritable  fairyland.  The  surround- 
ing objects  now  appeared  to  be  bathed  in  the  most 
gorgeous  hues,  due  to  a  network  of  radiant  wires 
overhead  from  which  were  suspended  innumerable 
prismatic  crystals,  whose  refracted  lights  frescoed 
the  ceiling  in  dazzling  splendor  and  draped  the  more 
distant  walls  with  weird  hangings  of  flickering 
shadow  tints.  In  an  apparent  space  back  of  the 
shadowy  hangings,  dim  figures  seemed  to  be  whirl- 
ing in  a  slow  waltz  to  the  faint  echo  of  deliciously 
sweet  music. 

A  trio  of  charming  young  women,  being  pre- 
sented by  our  hostess,  waited  upon  us  with  remark- 
able grace  and  tact.  They  were  accomplished  enter- 
tainers and  deemed  it  an  honor  to  serve  in  a  capacity 
requiring  so  much  art;  for  the  service  was  inter- 
larded with  varied  entertainment,  embracing  songs, 
recitations,  toasts,  short  addresses,  and  often  orig- 
inal sallies,  sparkling  with  wit  and  of  surpassing  ex- 
cellence. The  following  ballad,  "The  Mermaid's 
Plight,"  was  one  of  these: 


The  Millennial  Secret.  25 


Alas,  for  my  mermaid's  necklace! 

I  have  lost  it  in  the  sea; 
Its  pearls  are  scattered  far  and  wide — 

They  are  lost  forever,  to  me! 

"Your  very  life  is  in  these  gems," 
Said  the  sibyl  who  gave  them  to  me; 

"There's  lasting  health  in  every  pearl — 
But  death,  if  they  part  from  thee!" 

Some  wizard  hand  from  far  away, 

Across  the  trackless  sea, 
Hath  cut  the  cord  that  bound  them; 

He  has  severed  them  from  me! 

L  shouldn't  have  placed  the  slightest  trust 

In  the  hollow  film  of  faith, 
But  a  fiber  of  firmest  substance 

Should  have  sought  from  some  sea  wraith! 

In  tears,  I  now  wait  by  the  sea  shore, 
For  my  pearls  to  come  back  to  me; 

But  the  dreary  waste  gives  no  answer, 
Save  the  chilling  blasts  of  the  sea! 

A  pall  of  darkness,  like  a  shroud, 

Comes  creeping  o'er  my  soul; 
I  feel  the  icy  hand  of  death; 

I  hear  my  death  knell  toll! 

O  heed  my  words,  ye  workmen: 

Prize  not  your  jobs  so  slight, 
Lest  some  day  ye  should  lose  them, 

And  be  left  in  the  mermaid's  plight ! 

Your  jobs  are  all  precious  as  pearls, 
As  bread,  and  water,  and  breath; 

They  are  the  doorways  to  life; 
They  bar  the  entrance  of  death. 

And  there's  many  a  wizard  waiting, 

'Long  the  byways  of  the  land, 
To  sever  the  cord  that  binds  them, 

And  snatch  them  from  your  hand! 

Quite  long  ye  may  wait  by  the  sea  shore; 

In  vain  bemoan  your  loss;. 
But  nary  a  pearl  of  a  job 

May  e'er  return  from  across! 

It's  only  a  thread  of  faith, 

By  which  job  pearls  are  bound; 

It's  the  merest  freak  of  chance, 
If  ever  a  lost  pearl's  found! 

So  seek  ye  the  stout  cord  of  centry — 

A  cord  no  wizard  can  break — 
And  hold  fast  your  necklace  of  jobs; 

Upon  these  your  lives  are  at  stake! 


26  The  Making  of  a  Millennium. 

A  comic  recital  closed  the  intermission,  leaving 
us  in  a  happy  mood — the  three  graces  having  in  the 
meanwhile  vanished,  during  the  transition  of  the 
room  to  its  former  appearance. 

It  was  indeed  a  land  of  the  millennium  into 
which  I  had  drifted — owing  to  a  peculiar  chain  of 
circumstances,  of  which  more  will  be  said  hereafter. 

Rescued  by  the  noble  efforts  of  my  host,  Robert 
Manoah,  I  had  spent  the  best  portion  of  my  first 
day  in  a  long  nap;  and  refreshed  in  the  evening,  I 
was  agreeable  surprised  by  a  visit  from  a  body  of 
rescued  shipmates  whom  I  had  regarded  as  lost 
when  the  Falcon  went  down  on  the  night  preceding. 
How  glad  I  was  to  embrace  my  kind  friend,  Doctor 
Remington,  and  to  meet  his  companions — foremost 
among  whom  was  Captain  Clark  the  former  com- 
mander of  our  ship.  The  remaining  members  of  the 
party  were  Mark  and  Helen  Oswald,  Richard  Burton 
and  Joseph  Carson,  of  whom  mention  has  already 
been  made;  Miss  Lydia  Carson,  a  daughter  of  the 
steel  magnate;  and  Mrs.  Jane  Luzby,  a  progressive 
young  club  woman  hailing  from  the  windy  city. 

The  Manoah  household  comprised  three  genera- 
tions, of  which  Grandpa  Zeke,  a  well-preserved  oc- 
togenarian, was  the  patriarch;  Robert  and  Mary 
Manoah,  our  hosts,  were  next  in  lineage,  and  the  two 
young  daughters,  Ruth  and  Ray, — the  latter  away 
on  a  brief  absence — completed  its  membership.  They 
were  all  so  uniformly  genial,  and  Mrs.  Manoah  was 
so  pleasant  and  informal  in  her  manners,  that  I  felt 
from  the  start  very  much  as  if  I  had  been  one  of  the 
family  returned  after  a  prolonged  absence.  Even 
little  Ruth,  a  daughter  not  yet  in  her  teens,  clung  to 
me  as  to  an  elder  brother. 


The  Millennial  Secret.  27 

They  had  so  much  to  tell — so  many  features  of 
their  wonderful  realm  to  explain — and  there  was  so 
much  they  were  anxious  to  learn  concerning  the 
latest  affairs  of  the  "outworld" — as  everything  out 
side  of  Temploria  is  called, — that  our  tongues  were 
kept  busy. without  apparent  cessation;  and  it  was  not 
long  before  they  elicited  from  me  the  story  of  the 
strange  incidents  through  which  I  had  been  brought 
into  this  realm. 

The  entire  family,  including  little  Ruth,  listened 
to  the  narrative  with  bated  breath,  while  Grandpa 
Zeke  fairly  went  wild  over  one  incident  in  which  an 
eloquent  young  woman  had  exhorted  a  body  of  work- 
ingmen  to  lay  aside  their  strifes  and  jealousies  over 
the  available  jobs,  advising  them  rather  to  in- 
crease the  number  of  these — even  if  they  had  to 
compel  the  capitalist  to  spend  all  his  surplus  wealth. 
"God  bless  the  good  woman,"  the  venerable  patri- 
arch exclaimed,  overjoyed  that  outworld  workmen 
were  beginning  to  have  their  eyes  opened.  "It's 
just  those  additional  jobs  that  have  emancipated 
labor  in  Temploria." 

Then  he  began  telling  me  all  about  economic 
conditions  in  this  realm,  picturing  a  land  that  was 
little  short  of  a  grander  paradise.  It  was  a  place 
where  the  lion  and  the  lamb  could  indeed  lie  side 
by  side  with  perfect  security;  where  each  husband- 
man could  sit  as  it  were  under  his  own  fig  tree ;  and 
where  the  sword  had  been  veritably  turned  into  a 
pruning  hook.  Here  the  warp  of  work  and  the  woof 
of  pleasure  were  interwoven  into  a  beautiful  idyl, 
and  perennial  peace  reigned  in  the  midst  of  great 
activity  and  progress.  There  were  no  vultureg  here 
to  snatch  the  bread  from  the  mouths  of  little  ones. 


28  The  Making  of  a  Millennium. 

There  was  no  specter  of  starvation  to  haunt,  and  no 
cloud  of  insecurity  to  darken,  the  home.  The  sun  of 
opportunity  shed  his  rays  of  warmth  from  the  in- 
dustrial sky  and  inbued  with  marvelous  energy 
every  faculty  and  organism  of  social  and  individual 
life. 

It  was  a  land  of  prodigious  wealth — wealth  — 
not  the  disease-infected  and  .distorted  organs  of 
production  and  shelter  held  as  loans  to  the  enslaved 
multitudes.  It  was  all  owned  and  controlled  by  in- 
dividuals, subordinate  to  wholesome  law,  and  oper- 
ated through  voluntary  co-operative  organizations 
whose  elected  representatives  constituted  the  gov- 
ernment. Everybody  was  free  to  produce  and  ac- 
cumulate all  the  wealth  he  pleased,  provided  he  al- 
lowed the  same  privilege  to  others;  and  it  was  be- 
cause no  abstainer  could  rob  him  of  employment, 
and  forbid  him  to  produce,  that  labor  was  here  in- 
dustrially as  well  as  in  all  other  respects  free.  Cap- 
italism, the  parent  of  a  thousand  tyrannies,  was 
dead;  and  freedom  breathed  a  purer  atmosphere. 

The  intermission  over,  it  was  not  long  before 
the  conversation  again  reverted  to  the  doctrine  of 
Centrism;  and  Captain  Clark,  who  was  a  staunch 
advocate  of  freedom  of  trade,  confessed  a  difficulty 
in  seeing  why  the  time-honored  "supply  and  de- 
mand" value  scales,  without  interference,  should 
not  be  good  enough  for  all  the  purposes  of  industry. 

"Your  attitude  reminds  me—  '  Grandpa  Zeke 
replied,  with  a  long  drawl,  as  he  drew  himself  up  in 
his  chair, ' '  it  reminds  me — of  an  incident  my  grand- 
father often  alluded  to,  occurring  in  the  good  old 
days  before  he  landed  in  Temploria. 


The  Millennial  Secret. 


29 


"In  the  little  village  of  Powaska  down  in  old 
Connecticut,  lived  a  thrifty  merchant  whose  store 
was  the  only  one  within  a  large  radius.  Honest 
John  did  a  thriving  business, — doing  so  well  in  fact, 
that  he  finally  had  to  send  to  Hartford  for  an  extra 
clerk. 


Unperjured  Testimony. 


1 '  The  clerk  speedily  arrived,  a  young  fellow  full 
of  business,  and  ready  to  manage  affairs  from  the 
very  start.  He  had  scarcely  got  into  harness  though, 
before  the  two  had  a  fight.  It  was  all  on  account  of 
Honest  John's  ideal  scales;  and  from  abusing  each 
other  over  it  with  hard  words  they  were  soon  bat- 
tering each  other  with  hard  fists,  until  the  neigh- 
bors parted  them  and  they  were  brought  up  before 
the  village  squire. 


30  The  Making  of  a  Millennium. 

1  'Squire  Jones  sat  in  austere  majesty,  listening 
to  their  successive  recriminations;  and  being  un- 
able to  arrive  at  any  conclusion,  he  ordered  the 
scales  to  be  brought  into  court.  They  were  placed 
before  him;  and  thereupon,  before  the  eyes  of  the 
entire  village,  the  trick  was  exposed  and  John  not 
only  rebuked,  but  ignominiously  dragged  from  the 
room  and  hurried  to  the  county  jail. 

"The  scales  had  testified  for  themselves.  They 
had  spoken  an  unperjured  testimony.  At  a  point 
about  one  inch  from  the  center  was  visible  the  stain 
of  rust,  indicating  where  the  beam  had  rested  all 
these  years.  Its  pounds  had  been  over  an  ounce 
short.  The  silent  testimony  of  the  scales  had  con- 
victed him. 

"While  his  customers  had  been  in  the  habit  of 
riveting  their  eyes  upon  the  scale  pans,  the  falsely 
centered  beam  had  been  indiscriminately  cheating 
them  all." 

"I  don't  see  what  this  scales  had  to  do  with  the 
outworld  supply  and  demand  value  scales,"  pro- 
tested the  unconvinced  free  trader,  after  the  speaker 
had  finished. 

""It  had  this  to  do  with  it,"  responded  the  story 
teller:  "that  the  adjustment  of  the  supply  and  de- 
mand beam  in  your  outworld  value  scales  is  subject 
to  tampering  and  is  interfered  with  by  thousands  of 
Honest  Johns ;  for  it  rests  a  great  deal  further  from 
its  center  than  did  John's  cheating  scales." 

"I  don't  see  anything  wrong  in  the  fact  that 
supply  and  demand  vary,"  protested  the  Captain, 
"what's  to  determine  values  if  there's  to  be  no  fluc- 
tuation?" 


The  Millennial  Secret.  31 

" Fluctuations  of  value,"  retorted  the  Tempor- 
ian,  "relate  to  particular  forms  of  demand  or  sup- 
ply, but  not  to  the  total  supply  or  total  demand, 
neither  of  which  are  subjects  of  valuation.  The  total 
supply,  in  fact,  being  a  response  to  and  correlative 
of  the  total  demand,  should  never  exceed  it.  Like 
the  ends  of  the  beam,  the  total  supply  and  the  total 
demand  should  be  neutral — always  balancing.  Cen- 


PEMAND       fl  BECsu°ppkL 


The  Templorian  Wage  Scale. 

trism,  keeps  the  suppy  and  demand  beam  perfectly 
centered;  and  from  this  service  it  derives  its  name. 
Its  values  denote  the  relation  one  service  bears  to 
another;  whereas  the  capitalistic  scales  register 
merely  the  minimum  share  of  the  product  that  labor 
will  consent  to  accept  as  its  wage — a  result  quite  re- 
mote from  value.  It's  like  putting  a  man  into  a 
press  and  measuring  his  height  by  seeing  into  how 
short  a  compass  he  could  be  squeezed.  The  fact  that 
the  license  of  abstention  permitted  indefinite  short- 
ening of  the  demand  or  lengthening  of  the  supply 
arm  of  the  beam,  gave  it  a  cheating  capacity  ten 
times  as  great  as  the  scales  of  our  'Honest  John.' 


32  The  Making  of  a  Millennium. 

The  truth  is,  it  scarcely  gave  to  labor  a  quarter  of  its 
real  value." 

"If  it  delivered  a  mere  quarter  of  labor's  val- 
ue," ironically  remonstrated  the  Philadelphian, 
"what  do  you  suppose  became  of  the  other  three 
quarters  1  Did  it  remain  upon  the  scale  pans  ? ' ' 

"One  would  think  something  remained  on  the 
pans,"  responded  the  venerable  Templorain,  "the 
way  all  the  agencies  of  out  world  commerce  scramble 
and  scuffle  for  control  of  the  weighing.  What  stays 
on  the  pan  is  the  gross  profit,  the  bulk  of  which  is 
wasted  in  your  scrambling  and  scuffling  to  do  the 
weighing.  Between  what  you  put  into  the  creation 
of  vastly  redundant  and  superfluous  business  capital 
and  into  the  hire  of  whole  armies  of  men  to  uselessly 
fight  for  trade  with  grip  and  sword,  and  the  hazards 
you  have  to  assume  in  this  tooth  and  nail  struggle, 
what  you  find  in  the  pan  is  after  all  a  gilded  delu- 
sion !  In  spite  of  all  your  desperate  efforts  to  gath- 
er trade,  you  stir  up  only  froth  and  foam, — the  bulk 
of  trade  remaining  latent — stifled  by  your  absten- 
tions. You  cannot  make  the  goddess  of  trade  sing  by 
throttling  her ;  nor  can  you  kill  her  children  and  re- 
vive the  corpses  with  all  your  armies  of  trade- 
patching  surgeons." 

"It's  just  as  we  socialists  have  always  contend- 
ed," remarked  young  Mr.  Oswald.  "We  have  al- 
ways regarded  the  outworld  supply  and  demand 
value  scales  as  a  sort  of  'Honest  John,'  although 
its  mechanism  has  never  been  so  fully  exposed  as 
under  the  lime  light  of  Centrism.  Surely,  no  better 
cheating  device  has  ever  been  imposed  upon  a  credu- 
lous humanity.  Take  off  your  hats,  all  you  gamblers 
— with  your  marked  cards,  loaded  dice,  wheels  of 
fortune,  green  goods  and  other  gold  bricks;  and  all 


The  Millennial  Secret. 


33 


I  Told  You  So. 


you  short-weight  grocers  and  coal  men,  you  long- 
priced  ice  men,  you  short-measure  hucksters,  and 
all  other  petty  practicers  of  larceny;  come  one  and 
all  of  you,  and  make  your  obeisance  to  this  king  of 
cheats.  What  are  all  your  pilferings  in  comparison 
with  a  wage  scales  that  pares  wages  down  to  a  mere 
quarter  of  the  workingman's  production,  and  makes 
him  feel  thankful,  to  boot,  for  this  rescue  from  star- 
vation. 

''And  all  you  free  voters  whose  liberties  confine 
you  within  the  necessity  of  accepting  with  thanks 
the  thin  slices  doled  out  to  you,  I  pray  you,  paint  on 
your  banners  of  prosperity  the  image  of  this  historic 
and  world-famed  wage  scales — this  badge  of  your 
equality,  as  industrial  slaves." 


CHAPTER  II. 
The  Quest  of  Labor's  Knighthood. 

"Yet  I  argue  not 

Against  Heaven's  hand  or  will,  nor  bate  a  jot 
Of  heart  or  hope;   but  still  bear  up  and  steer 
Right  onward." — Milton. 

The  startling  revelations  embodied  in  the  gospel 
of  Centrism  clothed  with  deeper  significance  an  in- 
cident immediately  preceding  my  advent  in  this 
realm,  in  which  this  doctrine  was  vaguely  fore- 
shadowed. 

Assigned,  as  a  reporter  on  one  of  the  news- 
papers of  the  American  metropolis,  to  investigate 
certain  labor  troubles,  I  happened  early  one  June 
morning,  just  before  sunrise,  to  be  sauntering  in  the 
vicinity  of  the  East  River  docks,  when  I  fell  in  with 
a  compact  body  of  workingmen  silently  forging  their 
way  through  the  darkness.  A  moment  later,  accom- 
panied with  derisive  shouts,  a  shower  of  missiles 
came  whirling  by — passing  fortunately  over  their 
heads. 

With  a  crowd  of  incensed  union  men  directly  in 
their  path,  the  sturdy  fellows  nevertheless  kept  right 
on,  until  a  pitched  battle  seemed  imminent. 

At  this  critical  juncture,  as  if  risen  from  the 
very  bowels  of  the  earth,  the  apparition  of  a  seem- 
ingly tall  woman  appeared  between  the  opposing 
forces.  The  sun  had  meanwhile  come  out,  piercing 
the  mists  with  his  shimmering  rays,  and  adding  no 
little  to  the  startling  effect  of  the  intervention. 


Quest  of  Labor's  Knighthood. 


35 


"My  good  friends,"  the  woman  began,  address- 
ing the  rival  forces,  "why  is  it  you  are  here,  arrayed 
one  against  the  other — brother  against  brother, 
workman  against  workman?  Why  are  you  facing 
each  other  in  this  hostile  attitude  1  Is  it  not  because 
of  a  scarcity  of  jobs,  and  that  one  set  or  the  other 


The  Peace  Maker. 

of  you  must  be  condemned  to  idleness?  Is  there 
any  other  cause  for  your  hostility?" 

"Not  much."  "No!"  and  "You  bet  not," 
were  among  the  numerous  replies  spontaneously 
proceeding  from  a  score  or  more  of  lusty  throats. 

"Then,  my  friends,"  the  fair  speaker  resumed, 
"if  there  are  only  thirty  jobs  to  be  had  for  every  hun- 
dred men,  will  scrambling  for  them  make  a  single 
job  more,  or  net  you  any  better  return,  than  would 


36  The  Making  of  a  Millennium. 

an  amicable  rotation  in  their  apportionment?  With 
each  man  assured  ids  share  of  work  would  you  not 
stand  in  a  better  position  to  command  a  just  wage 
tjian  ununited  to  be  engulfed  in  perpetual  strife? 
Eemember  it  is  the  lone  traveler  who  has  to  sur- 
render his  purse. 

"The  mightiest  arm,  however,  to  protect  you, 
my  friends,  is  that  of  a  full  demand — the  call  of  a 
hundred  jobs  for  every  hundred  men. 

"You  are  all  consumers,  are  you  not?  And  as 
consumers,  are  you  not  also  job  makers?  Are  you 
not  day  after  day  creating  jobs  ?  Yet  you  never  ask 
what  becomes  of  them.  Is  it  not  time  you  asked? 
Are  you  so  prosperous  that  you  can  afford  to  take 
thirty  jobs  in  place  of  a  hundred?  Can  you  afford 
to  confine  your  struggle  merely  to  the  thirty  jobs, 
completely  losing  sight  of  the  other  seventy?  I 
tell  you,  it's  the  other  seventy  you  want— the  full 
demand  of  a  hundred  jobs  for  every  hundred  men. 
Secure  the  full  demand,  and  I  warrant,  you  will  be 
able  to  command  honorable  terms  as  well  as  the  full 
wage. ' ' 

' l  Take  my  advice,  brothers, ' '  she  resumed  after 
a  lengthy  pause  during  which  she  was  cheered  to  the 
echo,  "consolidate  in  amicable  distribution  of  the 
available  jobs;  and  spare  no  efforts  to  acquire  the 
other  seventy.  To  secure  the  other  seventy  is  the 
real  quest  of  labor's  knighthood." 

I  do  not  recall  the  exact  drift  of  the  words  used 
by  this  eloquent  woman  in  further  expatiating  with 
her  auditors,  but  well  I  remember  the  solemn  earn- 
estness of  that  pale  face,  and  the  sweet,  sympathetic 
tone  of  her  appeal  to  their  fellow  feeling  and  their 
sense  of  duty.  I  also  remember  the  nice  precision 


Quest  of  Labor's  Knighthood.  37 

with  which  she  reasoned  to  impress  on  them  the  ne- 
cessity of  compelling  the  capitalist  to  spend  his  in- 
come, regardless  of  profits — even  his  principal — un- 
til there  was  work  for  all.  Even  granted  the  cap- 
italist's principal  had  been  honestly  earned,  every 
dollar  of  it  represented  an  amount  of  opportunity 
shared  in  excess  of  what  had  been  due  him  as  a  con- 
sumer, and  the  restitution  of  this  opportunity  was 
asking  but  mild  justice.  The  quest  of  labor's  knigh- 
hood  was  not  fulfilled  in  a  blind  and  bitter  strife  for 
the  thirty  jobs  ordinarily  available,  but  in  securing 
the  other  seventy. 

It  was  this  call  for  the  other  seventy  jobs  that 
has  ever  since  impressed  me  as  a  genuine  forecast 
of  Centrism;  and  the  bitter  strife  over  the  ordinary 
thirty  seemed  a  perfect  counterpart  to  the  fatuous 
contentment  of  buyers  with  the  fluctuating  pans  of 
the  capitalistic  wage-scales  while  blindly  tolerating 
the  grossest  deviations  in  the  position  of  its  beam. 

Its  short-demand,  abridged  through  capital- 
breeding  abstentions,  represented  the  very  jobs 
charged  as  missing — the  other  seventy.  These 
comprised  opportunities  non-productively  applied 
in  the  creation  and  operation  of  grossly  redundant 
enterprises,  and  production  of  a  redundancy  of 
profits — all  of  which  was  like  fruitless  pyramid 
building — slave  work. 

The  calm  earnestness  of  this  woman  inspired 
a  reverence  and  awoke  in  the  breasts  of  these  men 
a  hope  that  was  almost  divine.  They  drank  the 
words  from  her  lips  as  if  they  had  been  sent  from 
heaven;  and  in  their  frenzy  of  admiration  they 
would  have  kissed  the  very  ground  she  trod.  Both 


38  The  Making  of  a  Millennium. 

factions  were  affected  alike — the  germ  of  fellowship, 
like  a  divine  spark,  welding  their  hearts. 

It  was  an  impressive  scene  to  behold  the  erst- 
while foes  now  mingling  in  brotherly  communion— 
fervidly  grasping  each  other's  hands  as  they  buried 
all  past  animosities  and  began  proceedures  toward 
sealing  a  more  permanent  bond  of  peace. 

In  the  midst  of  this  happy  scene,  the  fair  orator 
mysteriously  vanished;  and  all  I  could  afterwards 
glean  from  desultory  remarks  overheard  was  the 
fact  that  her  name  was  Margaret  and  that  she  was  a 
settlement  worker  residing  in  the  vicinity. 

So  thoroughly  had  I  been  absorbed  in  this  dra- 
matic incident  that  I  had  failed  to  discern  the  ap- 
proach of  footsteps  from  behind  until,  startled  by 
the  cry  of  "scabs."  I  turned,  and  behold  a  second 
body  of  union  men  were  almost  upon  us.  In  a  mo- 
ment the  air  was  thick  with  flying  stones  and  clubs, 
and  a  heavy  blow  upon  the  back  of  my  head  was  my 
last  recollection  of  the  incident. 

Upon  recovery  of  consciousness  I  found  myself 
laid  out  upon  a  couch  in  the  quarters  of  Doctor  Rem- 
ington, aboard  the  steamer  Falcon — on  its  way  to 
the  Philippines.  My  wound  had  been  carefully 
dressed,  and  apart  from  a  long  gash,  consisted  of  a 
slight  fracture  of  the  outer  portion  of  the  bone  at 
the  place  where  I  had  been  struck. 

I  had  very  fortunately  been  discovered  by  the 
ship's  steward,  more  dead  than  alive,  doubled  up  in 
a  cask  that  had  evidently  been  smuggled  aboard  as 
an  easy  way  to  get  rid  of  an  incriminating  "corpse." 

On  the  day  following  I  was  obliged  to  undergo 
a  slight  operation  for  the  removal  of  a  splinter  from 
the  battered  portion  of  my  skull.  I  still  recall  the 


Quest  of  Labor's  Knighthood. 


39 


peculiar  anesthetic  used  and  the  heavy  drowsiness  it 
occasioned — conjuring  up  strange  visions  in  which  I 
was  carried  through  the  region  along  the  East  Kiver 
wharves,  where  I  again  beheld  the  hostile  labor  for- 
ces prepared  to  spring  at  each  other  like  enraged 
lions.  The  scene  changed,  and  a  great  parade  swept 


SHORT   IN  JOBS-- 
5HORT  \NWAGES. 

COMPEL  • 
CAPITAL  { 

COMPETE 


A  Great  Parade. 

by,  composed  of  squads  of  workingmen  bearing  ban- 
ners inscribed,  "A  Hundred  Jobs  for  Every  Hun- 
dred Men."  "Give  Us  the  Other  Seventy  Jobs," 
"Compel  Capital  to  Compete,"  and  "Short  in  Jobs, 
Short  in  Wages."  Many  of  these  bodies  were  sing- 
ing as  they  marched  along — their  songs  all  appeal- 
ing for  the  other  seventy  jobs.  One  began  in  this 
way: 


40  The  Making  of  a  Millennium. 

"With  thirty  jobs  to  a  hundred  men 

The  bogey  men  have  got  us — 
A  lot  of  slaves,  to  work  for  them 

On  terms  as  if  they'd  bought  us. 

Then  the  chorus  chimed  in : 

"Oh  the  bogey  men,  the  bogey  men, 

The  bogey  men  have,  got  us — 
A  flock  of  geese,  to  feed  and  pluck, 

To  deceive,  and  to  besot  us." 

Another  jingle  frequently  repeated  ran : 

Only  thirty  jobs, 

Only  thirty  cents, 
On   every   hundred! 

That  will  never  do: 
Someone  has  blundered; 

We  'want  what's  due, 

Full  measure  true, 
We  want  the  hundred!" 

Many  days  must  have  elapsed  before  I  was  suffi- 
ciently recovered  to  receive  visitors,  and  already  I 
was  congratulating  myself  upon  the  prospect  of  soon 
being  permitted  to  go  at  large  about  the  vessel,  when 
I  was  one  night  suddenly  aroused  by  a  violent  jar 
that  pitched  me  out  of  my  bunk.  The  way  the  vessel 
groaned  and  creaked,  I  looked  every  moment  to  see 
her  timbers  part. .  Surely,  something  dreadful  had 
happened.  Our  ship  must  have  struck  a  reef. 

Not  a  moment  was  there  to  lose.  In  less  than  a 
jiffy  I  was  dressed  and  had  burst  through  the  cabin 
door,  to  be  greeted  by  a  weird  and  uncanny  spec- 
tacle. Was  I  awake  or  only  dreaming?  Upon  the 
deck,  wherever  I  chanced  to  gaze,  ghastly  corpses 
lay — their  glassy  eyes  staring  vacantly  at  the  ob- 
scured skies.  The  sight  filled  me  with  terror. 

Scarcely  had  I  regained  self-possession  after 
this  shock,  than  a  peculiar  odor  assailed  my  nostrils, 


Quest  of  Labor's  Knighthood.  41 

and   my   attention   was   also   drawn   to   a   sort   of 
lustrous  mist  hovering  over  the  vessel. 

The  extraordinary  appearance  of  the  mist, 
coupled  with  a  vague  sense  of  stupor  I  felt  coming 
over  me,  aroused  my  suspicion;  and  thereupon  it 
flashed  upon  my  mind  that  this  shroud  of  mist  was 
in  reality  a  poisonous  gas.  What  else  could  have 
produced  all  these  ghastly  corpses?  Thanks  to  my 
close  confinement,  my  life  had  thus  far  been  spared. 
No  wonder  the  vessel  had  run  upon  a  reef ! 

I  realized  at  once  it  would  never  do  to  remain 
aboard.  The  open  sea  was  a  more  welcome  spot 
than  this  sepulcher.  Hurriedly  donning  a  life  pre- 
server, I  rushed  to  the  vessel's  side,  and  without  a 
moment's  pause,  I  leaped  into  the  foaming  depths. 

It  proved  a  lucky  move,  for  I  had  scarcely  col- 
lected my  senses,  after  the  plunge,  than  the  ship 
started  to  list  sternward.  Then  followed  a  vicious 
lurch,  and  she  sank  before  I  could  as  much  as  catch 
my  breath. 

For  the  first  time  now,  floating  helplessly  upon 
the  billows  of  an  unknown  sea,  the  awfulness  of  the 
calamity  dawned  upon  me ;  and  with  no  help  in  sight, 
my  heart  sank  within  me. 

Far  off  upon  the  horizon  I  soon  after  discerned 
the  dim  outlines  of  a  great  city;  and  this  vision, 
faint  as  it  was,  kindled  new  hope  in  my  breast.  It 
had  an  invigorating  influence,  neutralizing  much  of 
the  numbing  effect  of  the  immersion.  My  hopes 
were  further  heightened  when  a  pale  streak  of  light 
in  the  east  signaled  the  approach  of  day. 

Short  lived,  however,  were  all  my  hopes;  for 
no  sooner  had  the  momentary  excitement  subsided 


42  The  Making  of  a  Millennium. 

than  the  deadly  vapor  was  again  in  evidence.  There 
was  no  escape  from  its  tightening  clutch.  Steadily, 
steadily — in  spite  of  all  resistance — my  senses  were 
becoming  numbed  and  my  faculties  absorbed  in  a 
sweeping  vision  that  raked  over  the  pettiest  details 
of  my  past  career,  from  childhood  up.  I  seemed  to  be 
sinking  into  a  dark  abyss,  which  I  fancied  the  ap- 
proach of  death,  but  from  whose  yawning  depths  I 
was  fortunately  extricated,  as  the  reader  is  already 
aware,  to  awaken  under  the  generous  care  of  the 
Manoahs. 


CHAPTER  III. 

The  City  of  Bed  Cross. 

"Come,  bright  improvement!  on  the  car  of  Time, 
And  rule  the  spacious  world  from  clime  to  clime! 
Thy  handmaid  Art,  shall  every  wild  explore, 
Trace  every  wave,  and  culture  every  shore." 

— Campbell. 

As  in  a  dream,  my  first  week  in  Temploria  flitted 
away — one  swift  succession  of  astonishing  revela- 
tions. It  seemed  as  if,  held  in  a  spell  of  witchery 
and  woilder,  the  whole  world  had  .been  completely 
transformed — all  former  criterions  shattered — and 
the  new,  with  bold  audacity,  defying  every  sense  and 
challenging  all  preconceived  ideas.  Eye,  ear  and 
soul  were  ravished  with  its  endless  charm  of  novelty 
and  wonder. 

With  what  fond  delight  I  still  look  back  upon 
the  halcyon  days  of  those  wanderings,  accompanied 
by  the  Manoahs,  among  the  novel  institutions  and 
delightful  rendezvous  of  this  wonderful  city  of  Bed 
Cross.  Above  all  shone  the  buoyant  spirits  of  the 
lithe  Templorians,  in  whose  radiant  light  the  cloudy 
moodiness  of  my  outworld  soul  was  revealed  to  me 
as  never  before — and  almost  obliterated  from  the 
first  consciousness  of  this  contrast. 

Aside  from  the  remarkable  charm  of  these  peo- 
ple, I  was  at  every  step  and  turn  delighted  and 
amazed  by  strange  devices,  wonderful  appointments, 
miraculous  tricks  and  numberless  inventions — many 
revealing  secrets  in  Nature  seemingly  incredible. 
The  tracings  of  art  in  a  thousand  and  one  forms,  and 


44 


The  Making  of  a  Millennium. 


n  a 

n  a 

a  n 

n  a 

n  a 

n  n 

a  a 

a  a 

a  n 

a  n 

n  a 

a  a 

a  n 

n  n 

n  a 

n  a 

n  n 

n  n 

n  n 

a  a 

a  n 

a  n 

a  n 

D  n 

a  n 

a'  n 

a  n 

a  a 

n  a 

a  a 

n  n 

n  n 

a  a 

a  a- 

a  a 

a  n 

D  a 

n  a 

a  n 

a  a 

n  a 

n  n 

n  n 

n  n  t 

n  a 

n  S 

2   a 

n  n  s 

rrl 

SHOPWAY        <£ 

^    \ 

§3        SHOPWAY     ~ 

W*~* 

LLt 

>, 

& 

n  n 

a  « 

•H   a 

a  n  I 

n  n 

a  n 

a  a 

n  a  H 

n  a 

a  a 

n  a 

n  a 

n  n 

a  a 

n  n 

n  a 

n  n 

a  a 

a  n 

n  a 

1  ngn 


o  n     ran 


a  n 
a  n 


n<n 
n^n 
a  a 
a  n 


nan 
a  a 
a  a 


The  City  of  Bed  Cross.  45 

in  types  of  exquisite  subtletry,  greeted  the  specta- 
tor's eye  upon  every  side— all  lending  their  happy 
mood  towards  enlivening  a  city  that  was  far  more 
than  beautiful. 

Imagine  a  series  of  parks — long  parallel 
streaks  of  brilliant  foliage,  extending  for  miles 
across  the  entire  length  of  the  city — flanked  on 
either  side,  at  uniform  intervals,  with  groups  of 
stately  edifices— back  of  which  lay  nestled  clusters 
of  red  roofed  cottages  that  checkered  the  rich  land- 
scape like  dots  of  coral  reef. 

There  were  seven  of  these  leafy  avenues,  called 
parkways,  running  a  mile  or  so  apart;  while  alter- 
nating between  and  occupying  half  the  intervening 
territory  were  six  long  vistas  known  as  farmways, 
devoted  to  truck  farming,  poultry  raising  and  more 
or  less  dairy  produce. 

Bisecting  the  ribs  of  alternate  parkway  and 
farmway,  like  a  mammoth  spine,  a  great  shopway 
crossed  the  city  at  a  right  angle  to  the  other  ways. 
Parked  like  the  other  thoroughfares,  the  shopway, 
— as  might  be  inferred  from  its  name, — was  faced 
on  either  side  with  tiers  of  stalwart  factories,  mam- 
moth power  plants,  monster  warehouses  and  a  great 
variety  of  additional  structures — all  mighty  build- 
ings, clean,  odorless  and  throbbing  with  the  rumble 
and  buzz  of  industrial  activity.  Everything  about 
these  places  was  suggestive  of  the  highest  excellence 
—especially  the  safeguards  to  life  and  limb,  the  fa- 
cilities for  light,  ventilation  and  temperature  regu- 
lation, and  in  fact  all  devices  that  enhanced  the 
health  and  security  of  the  inmates.  Even  the  walls 
and  ceilings  were  in  most  places  decorated  to  in- 


46  The  Making  of  a  Millennium. 

spire  a  feeling  of  cheerfulness  among  the  operatives, 
to  whom  this  was  a  home  during  working  hours. 

In  the  heart  and  center  of  the  city  was  a  great 
square  known  as  the  Grand  Temple,  within  which 
were  located  assembly  halls,  theaters,  art  galleries, 
libraries,  the  City  Hall  and  Hall  of  Justice,  Central 
Postoffice  and  ~Bank,  Inter-Urban  Depot,  All-Tem- 
ploria -Rotating  Museum,  and  many  other  structures 
of  lesser  importance.  They  were  all  detached,  fire 
proof  buildings — no  Moloch  being  permitted  to  erect 
his  altars  here  for  human  sacrifices.  Neither  were 
there  any  sky-scraping  shafts  to  be  seen,  lifting  their 
heads  as  if  to  reproach  the  heavens  with  land  stingi- 
ness. 

Let  us  now  return  to  the  parkways.  Taking  a 
glance  at  one  of  these  verdant  avenues,  in  addition 
to  the  imposing  array  of  beautiful  and  symmetrical 
edifices,  the  eye  is  everywhere  feasted  with  glimpses 
of  tall  monuments,  statuary,  images  of  man  or  beast 
in  natural  posture  and  in  natural  colors — carved 
lions  quenching  their  thirst  from  limpid  pools; 
crouching  panthers  peering  through  the  thick  fol- 
iage ;  sighing  lovers  in  sequestered  bowers ;  and  here 
and  there  a  stalwart  woodman  cleaving  the  huge 
trunk  of  some  arborial  monarch.  There  were  also 
beautiful  glades  and  antiquated  groves  from  whose 
midst  the  warbling  notes  of  feathered  songsters 
rang,  blending  with  soft  strains  issuing  from  innum- 
erable automatic  instruments  concealed  among  the 
shrubbery.  Glistening  fountains  and  thousands  of 
lesser  sprays  moistened  the  surrounding  verdure 
and  cooled  the  atmosphere,  while  scores  of  fantastic 
pavilions  afforded  rest  and  comfort  for  the  weary; 
here  and  there  were  also  plots  of  ground  devoted  to 


The  City  of  Bed  Cross.  47 

outdoor  games  and  exercises,  all  combining  to  en- 
hance the  extraordinary  attractiveness  of  these 
thoroughfares. 

Passing  through  the  full  length  of  each  park- 
way, hidden  underneath  a  series  of  diminutive 
hedges,  lay  a  double  track  of  rails  sunk  in  a  bed  ly- 
ing a  trifle  below  the  way  level.  Over  these  tracks 
sped  a  continuous  succession  of  noiseless  carriages, 
impelled  by  some  invisible  power,  and  making  regu- 
lar stops  at  the  queer  little  marbled  passenger  sta- 
tions fronting  each  of  its  residence  groups.  The 
ground  level  was  exclusively  devoted  to  passengers, 
while  a  subway  underneath  was  used  as  the  avenue 
for  the  conveyance  of  freights. 

Penetrating  all  the  parkways  as  well  as  the 
shopways,  every  shop  and  residence  in  the  entire 
city  is  made  accessible  to  the  lines;  and  the  farm- 
ways  and  inter-urban  lines  are  also  brought  in  direct 
touch  with  the  system.  The  lines  did  all  the  trans- 
portation within  the  boundaries  of  the  city,  carrying 
passengers  to  all  places  and  distributing  parcels 
and  freight  to  and  from  all  quarters — all  of  which 
was  done  at  a  surprisingly  low  cost.  Beasts  of  bur- 
den and  private  vehicles  were  utterly  superfluous; 
nor  were  they  permitted.  For  this  reason  there  were 
no  streets  having  exposed  surfaces  to  gather 
and  disseminate  dirt  and  filth  and  to  spread  disease. 
Those  desiring  to  indulge  in  pleasure  drives  started 
on  their  tours  from  the  numerous  garages  and 
stables  scattered  on  the  outskirts. 

Without  being  a  city  of  either  millionaires  or 
princes,  Bed  Cross  possessed  a  beauty  and  attrac- 
tiveness peculiarly  its  own,  heightened  incompar- 
ably above  any  outworld  city  by  the  uniformity  of 


48  The  Making  of  a  Millennium. 

its  excellences  and  the  absence  of  any  slum  districts 
to  detract  from  it, — like  a  filthy  kitchen  attached  to 
a  palace. 

The  parkways,  constituting  its  principal  thor- 
oughfares, were  faced  on  either  side  by  groups  of 
buildings  called  " temples,"  the  residents  of  which 
were  united  into  one  social  body  enjoying  therein  a 
delightful,  semi-communal  home  life.  The  finest 
edifices  of  the  temple  fronted  the  way — usually  the 
club  house,  temple  hall,  hotel  and  restaurant  and  the 
parcels  and  postoffice  station.  Back  of  these  stood 
several-  scores  of  detached  residences  supple- 
mented by  the  infant  nursery,  kindergarten,  hos- 
pital, library  and  reading  room,  museum  and  art 
gallery,  bath  house,  gymnasium,  light  and  power 
depot,  heating  and  cooling  house,  and  other  features 
varying  in  different  temples. 

Without  departure  from  the  strictest  privacy 
of  the  home,  the  communal  life  of  the  temple  pro- 
vided a  healthier  field  for  development  than  could 
have  been  furnished  under  the  isolated  roof — even 
supplemented  by  the  earlier  prototypes  of  church 
and  tavern,  with  their  mental  and  physical  stimu- 
lents,  which  in  the  temple  are  supplanted  by  mental 
and  physical  exercise. 

How  conveniently  the  communal  features  of  the 
temple  supplement  the  individual  homes  with  re-, 
serve  accommodations  for  guests  and  visitors,  in  the 
event  of  sickness,  or  under  any  unusual  draft  upon 
its  resources ;  and  what  superior  facilities  it  affords 
for  either  social  or  business  gatherings,  which  do  so 
much  to  vitalize  all  human  activities.  Through  the 
co-operation  of  the  restaurant  the  family  may  at  any 
time  reinforce  its  menu,  supply  entire  meals,  or  al- 


The  City  of  Bed  Cross.  49 

together  dispense  with  separate  kitchen;  all  temple 
service  is  at  cost,  its  labor  minimized  and  its  table 
supplies,  mostly  brought  fresh  from  the  farmway 
adjoining,  secured  at  trifling  outlay — there  being  no 
intervening  superfluity  of  middlemen  to  deal  with. 

Finely  equipped  reading  rooms  and  libraries, 
connected  with  the  Grand  Temple  library  through  a 
pneumatic  tube,  were  accessible  in  the  temple.  The 
rotating  art  gallery  and  museum,  whose  exhibits 
periodically  circulated  from  temple  to  temple,  ex- 
erted an  educational  and  refining  influence  rivaling 
that  of  the  libraries.  Even  the  club, — among  a  peo- 
ple uniformly  educated  and  pursuing  their  studies 
in  groups  all  through  life, — combined  with  its  pleas- 
ures the  intellectuality  of  the  French  salon,  in  which 
the  most  fascinating  subjects  and' vital  topics  were 
discussed. 

Classes  and  associations  of  various  kinds  for 
both  amusement  and  edification  met  daily  in  the  va- 
rious halls  and  kept  the  atmosphere  impregnated 
with  the  spirit  of  progress. 

The  temple  hospital,  situated  in  a  secluded  por- 
tion of. the  grounds,  occupied  an  intermediate  po- 
sition between  the  general  hospital  and  the  separate 
homes.  Here,  during  hours  designated  by  the  physi- 
cians, especially  during  convalscence,  patients  were 
allowed  to  receive  the  visits  of  their  friends  and 
loved  ones. 

There  were  nurseries  also  at  which  infants  and 
children  of  tender  age  could  be  left  at  intervals, 
which  was  a  great  relief  to  the  mother  when  other 
duties  demanded  attention. 

It  was  particularly  in  the  communal  features  of 
the  temple  that  much  of  the  superior  wealth  of  this 


50  The  Making  of  a  Millennium. 

realm  was  manifest.  Under  the  communal  roof  also 
much  of  the  leisure,  droned  away  in  the  outworld  in 
either  wasteful  overwork  or  unprofitable  idleness. 
was  applied  to  the  pleasures  of  refinement  and  cul- 
ture. 

' '  One  thing  I  can 't  get  used  to  here, ' '  said  I  one 
morning  at  breakfast,  "is  your  total  absence  of 
streets.  This  parked  environment  seems  too  dainty 
for  an  outworld  barbarian.  It  reminds  me  of  the  re- 
straint I  felt  as  a  boy,  every  time  I  had  to  don  my 
Sunday  clothes." 

"I  suppose" you'd  rather  wade  in  mud  and  filth, 
with  the  dust  flying  into  your  face  and  soot  and  cin- 
ders falling  all  over  you,"  my  hostess  naively  .re- 
marked, laughing  heartily  at  my  odd  notion. 

"Is  it  true,  *  Mr.  Rusk,"  little  Ruth  furtively 
asked',  "that  your  first  outworld  streets  grew  out  of 
cow  paths!  I  heard  that  many  of  them  were  formed 
like  fishhooks  and  ramshorns.  I  heard  also  that 
some  were  so  narrow  as  to  permit  neighbors  to 
shake  hands  from  oposite  balconies." 

"We  had  such  streets,  my  dear,"  I  answered. 
' l  in  the.  more  antiquated  cities ;  but  they  were  very 
scarce  in  America." 

"America  may  have  emancipated  herself  from 
crooked  streets,"  her  father  retorted,  "but  not  from 
the  lengthiness  of  the  magnificently  superfluous  dis- 
tances her  land  greed  has  imposed  on  her.  Her  tax 
payers  may  well  groan  at  the  five-fold  cost  of  im- 
provement taxes,  cartage,  freights,  railroad  and 
street  car  fares,  delays  and  inconveniences — all  bit- 
ter fruits  of  land  greed." 

"Would  you  believe  it,  Ben,"  my  hostess  fol- 
lowed, "that  our  entire  temple  system  is  supplied 


The  City  of  Red  Cro^s.  51 

with  a  dry,  well-lighted  and  ventilated  subway  con- 
taining all  our  pipes  and  wires,  and  enabling  us  to 
reach  our  car  stations  in  bad  weather  without  the 
slightest  exposure.  We  get  along  without  those— 
what  do  you  call  them! — those  spreading  cloths  used 
in  the  outworld  to  ward  off  the  rain — those— 
those—?" 

''Umbrellas,  I  suppose  you  mean,"  I  suggested. 

"Yes,  yes,  umbrellas.  We  never  see  them  here 
— except  in  the  museum. ' ' 

"Your  city  is  a  perfect  Zion,"  I  declared. 
"Where  is  another  outside  of  Temploria  that  can  be 
compared  with  it?  Where  else  do  parks  take  the 
place  of  streets?  Where  else  does  the  iron  roadway 
supplant  all  the  private  vehicles  and  the  beasts  of 
burden, — its  carriages  gliding  noiselessly  from  sta- 
tion to  station,  and  connecting  every  home  in  the 
city  with  every  other  home!  Where  else  is  the  de- 
livery of  all  freights  and  parcels  so  quietly  and  un- 
ostentatiously carried  on,  and  moreover  so  easily 
attended  to?  Where  else  are  building  operations  so 
handled  as  not  to  disturb  or  blockade  the  roadways ; 
and  where  else  are  the  building  materials  so  con- 
veniently and  economically  brought  to  the  spot? 
Where,  also,  does  the  door  to  the  home  open  into 
the  broader  parlor  of  communal  life,  with  all  its  va- 
ried resources  for  amusement  and  edification?  The 
same  home  faces  the  gaiety  of  the  parkway  and  the 
rural  charm  of  the  farmway.  With  the  choicest  facil- 
ities of  a  great  city  focused  in  the  temple,  you  breathe 
the  unsullied  and  crisp  air  of  the  country  and  par- 
take of  its  products  unstaled  by  middlemen  delays 
and  laid  down  at  prices  untainted  by  the  curse  of 


52  The  Making  of  a  Millennium. 

waste  and  profits.  Why,  even  the  educational  value 
of  blending  city  and  country  thus  is  a  priceless  pearl. 

"What  a  broad  roof  also  the  temple  system 
forms.  Extending  throughout  the  remotest  parts  of 
your  realm,  it  forms  a  single  roof  for  all — a  shelter 
for  every  soul.  With  all  towns  and  cities  threaded 
together  by  means  of  the  inter-urbans  and  all  rail- 
road fares  as  well  as  temple  service  at  cost,  the  di- 
vine spirit  of  brotherhood  may  well  be  said  to  ac- 
company one  everywhere.  One  feels  here  as  if  one 's 
country  and  one's  home  were  identical, — literally 
God's  country.  What  with  the  glorious  boon  of 
Centrism,  which  keeps  the  doors  of  employment  al- 
ways open  and  one's  purse  always  filled,  your  in- 
numerable attractive  features  fairly  make  my  head 
swim. ' ' 

"I  am  delighted,  Ben,  at  your  appreciation  of 
our  temples,"  my  hostess  remarked.  "Per- 
haps it  will  be  of  interest  to  you  to  know  that  all 
the  land  of  which  our  farmways  are  composed  cov- 
ers no  more  space  than  what  your  outworld  cities 
put  into  streets.  These  tracts  are  a  clear  saving  to 
us.  Isn't  it  strange  outworld  people  should  be  so 
thoughtless  in  the  disposition  of  their  lands  while 
holding  them  at  such  enormous  valuations?" 

1 '  From  a  Templorian  standpoint,.' '  her  husband 
remarked,  "your  outworld  cities  wouldn't  be  re- 
garded worth  ten  cents  on  the  dollar.  They'd  be 
compared  to  obsolete  machines  that  are  only  fit  for 
the  junk  pile, — once  the  up-to-date  machine  is  ready 
for  installation." 

"You  would  hardly  class  such  cities  as  New 
York,  Chicago,  or  London  among  the  worthless  ones, 
would  you?"  I  asked. 


The  City  of  Bed  Cross.  53 

"Being  of  abnormal  growth,"  my  amiable  host 
replied,  "they  will  all  some  day  have  to  undergo  a 
change  and  gradually  pass  away,  as  did  the  ante- 
diluvian monsters.  Remove  the  abnormal  conditions 
in  which  they  are  at  present  rooted,  and  with  the 
cessation  of  further  growth,  a  process  of  disinte- 
gration will  begin, — emigration  and  deaths  slowly  de- 
cimating the  ranks  of  their  inhabitants  until  only 
walls  remain  to  monument  their  pristine  glory." 

It  seemed  hard  to  believe,  yet  who  will  deny  the 
power  of  economic  law,  which  inexorably  moulds 
and  shapes  all  industrial  institutions.  By  imper- 
ceptible degrees  these  cities  would  succumb  to  the 
same  wizard  touch  that  turns  all  flesh  to  ashes. 

• 

Breakfast  over,  my  hostess  escorted  me  to  the 
parlor,  to  expose  the  mysteries  of  the  remarkable 
transformation  I  had  several  times  witnessed  in  the 
appearance  of  the  rooms.  Lifting  an  obscure  cur- 
tain covering  a  small  aperture  in  the  wall,  she  dis- 
played to  my  view  a  diminutive  apparatus  on  the 
face  of  which  were  a  dozen  or  more  buttons,  three  of 
which  she  simultaneously  touched,  when  lo  and  be- 
hold. I  could  scarcely  believe  my  eyes!  The  room 
had  been  suddenly  converted  into  a  smiling  orchard 
whose  drooping  boughs  were  dotted  with  innumer- 
able rosy-cheeked  apples.  Another  combination  of 
buttons  was  touched,  and  lo,  a  dream  of  palace  halls 
encircled  us.  A  third  adjustment  transplanted  us  in 
the  midst  of  a  strikingly  dramatic  scene  taken  from 
a  famous  historic  trial.  Scene  after  scene  were  thus 
presented  in  rapid  succession,  each  instantaneously 
and  completely  transforming  our  surroundings. 

Among  other  odd  features  was  a  peculiarly  con- 
structed apparatus  known  as  a  sightophone.  By  its 


54  The  Making  of  a  Millennium. 

use  one  was  enabled  simultaneously  to  see  and  hear 
at  long  range.  Calling  up  a  sister  in  a  distant  city, 
my  hostess,  after  giving  me  an  introduction,  with- 
drew. The  young  lady,  a  bright-eyed  brunette, 
smiling  graciously,  requested  me  to  be  seated  in  the 
chair  beside  her — an  offer  I  gratefully  accepted. 

4 'How  do  you  like  Temploria?"  she  inquired, 
blushing  deeply,  while  I  stared  in  a  sort  of  dumb 
amazement,  finally  stammering  a  highly  complimen- 
tary response. 

"I'm  glad  you  like  it  here,"  she  responded,  ex- 
tending, her  hand  in  an  endeavor  to  congratulate  me. 

Joyfully  I  reached  out  to  grasp  her  proffered 
hand,  but  to  my  chagrin  I"  merely  clasped  a  shadow 
—the  shadow  of  a  hand  some  forty  odd  miles  away. 

"I  beg  your  pardon,  Mr.  Rusk,"  returned  the 
beautiful  apparition,  with  an  air  of  repentance,  "I 
quite  forgot  in  my  delight  that  I  was  merely  look- 
ing upon  an  image.  I  trust  you  will  forgive  this 
unintentional  deception.  At  another  time — I  hope 
in  the  near  future — we  may  clasp  hands  in  person 
instead  of  merely  in  shadow.  I'll  have  May  bring 
you  along  the  next  time  I  have  her  up — and  for  the 
present,  I'll  not  detain  you  longer.  So  adieu! 
Adieu!" 

Her  disappearance  was  as  sudden  as  her  com- 
ing, but  it  left  behind  a  pang, — a  sense  of  strange 
lonesomeness  that  lingered  in  my  mind  like  a  haunt- 
ing dream. 

That  night,  while  deploring  the  necessity  of 
burying  so  many  of  my  former  ideas,  Grandpa  Zeke 
advised  me  not  to  worry  about  them.  "Let  the  dead 
bury  the  dead,"  said  he. 


CHAPTER  IV. 
A  Youthful  Wage  Earner. 

"Cursed  be  the  social   wants   that  sin  against  .the   strength  of 

youth ! 

Cursed  be  the  social  lies  thah  warp  us  from  the  living  truth! 

— Tennyson. 

It  was  a  red  letter  day  at  the  house  when  Bay, 
a  sister  two  years  the  senior  of  little  Ruth,  returned 
after  a  fortnight's  absence  on  a  class  tour  through 
Aurosia,  a  district  in  southern  Temploria.  Her  en- 
tire class,  accompanied  by  their  school  mistress,  had 
been  away  on  their  Spring  quarterly,  observing  Na- 
ture on  farm  and  in  forest — botanizing,  visiting  in- 
dustrial temples,  sketching  and  taking  occasional 
snap  shots. 

These  trips  were  a  splendid  reinforcement  to 
their  everyday  training,  besides  imbuing  their  fu- 
ture studies  with  a  living  interest.  They  provided 
not  only  a  delightful  recreation  but  also  an  invig- 
orating influence. 

Wherever  the  little  folks  went  they  were  cheer- 
fully welcomed  and  entertained,  finding  in  the  tem- 
les  at  which  they  stopped  as  congenial  homes  as 
those  they  had  left  behind.  Reared  in  the  broader 
home  of  temple  life,  enjoying  the  companionship  of 
classmates,  and  charmed  with  constant  novelty 
they  were  never  known  to  become  homesick  on  these 
excursions. 

Miss  Ray  had  a  winning  way  "about  her,  and 
soon  had  me  absorbed  listening  to  the  varied  details 


56  The  Making  of  a  Millennium. 

of  her  itinerary.  Aside  from  her  own  observations 
and  experiences,  she  had  gleaned  quite  a  store  of  in- 
formation from  contact  with  children  hailing  from 
other  parts  of  the  country. 

From  her  I  learned  some  interesting  facts  re- 
lating to  the  country  lands.  These  were  kept  in 
large  reservations  circumscribed  by  temple-lined 
parkways  on  which  were  threaded,  as  it  were,  in- 
numerable towns  and  villages,  with  now  and  then  a 
city.  The  cities,  though  composed  of  aggregates  of 
temples  and  parkways  similar  to  those  of  Bed  Cross, 
were  not  all  laid  out  after  the  same  fashion, — many 
omitting  the  farmways, — but  invariably  retaining 
the  main  characteristics,  especially  the  parked 
streets  and  the  exclusion  of  private  vehicles.  The  in- 
teriors of  these  reservations  were  each  devoted  to 
some  special  branch  of  agriculture,  stock  raising, 
forestry,  fish  culture  or  other  pursuit  requiring 
either  more  room  or  other  conditions  than  were 
available  on  the  farmways. 

Smooth  and  substantial  roadways  encircled 
these  spacious  fields — great  speeding  courses, — sep- 
arating them  from  the  outer  circle  of  inhabited  park- 
ways. On  these  courses,  upon  days  set  apart — when 
ordinary  driving  was  prohibited, — they  had  their 
races  and  maneuvering  exhibitions,  upon  which  oc- 
casions the  myriads  of  shaded  stands  and  benches 
along  the  route  would  be  thronged  with  joyous  spec- 
tators. 

Fine  roadways  also  traversed  the  inner  lands, 
connecting  all  parts  with  the  rapid  transit  lines  that 
traversed  the  outer  circle  of  parkways.  This  en- 
abled the  products  of  the  field  to  be  transported  on 


A  Youthful  Wage  Earner.  57 

power  vehicles  to  the  respective  shipping  stations, 
and  thence  to  reach  all  parts  of  Temploria. 

"Now  -tell  me  something  about  the  outworld," 
Mr.  Rusk,"  the  little  maiden  pleaded,  after  she  had 
become  tired  of  talking.  "Tell  me  something  about 
the  itineraries  your  classes  made  when  you  went  to 
school?" 

"Itineraries,  my  dear  girl,"  I  ejaculated,  "why, 
we  never  dreamed  of  such  luxuries.  We  felt  quite 
fortunate  to  have  an  annual  picnic,  of  one  whole  day, 
at  the  most." 

"That  was  too  bad!  Why  didn't  they  let  you 
have  them  for  a  week  or  two  at  a  time  as  they  do 
here?" 

"You've  heard  why  Jack  didn't  eat  his  supper, 
I  suppose.  Well,  it 's  for  the  same  reason  we  had  no 
itineraries.  They  were  quite  beyond  our  means. 
You  must  remember,  my  dear  girl,  there  were  no 
temples  over  there  with  such  fine  accommodations 
and  such  low  rates.  Nor  had  we  decent  railroad 
facilities  for  such  itineraries, — our  trains  com- 
ing and  going  at  hours  altogether  unfit  for  youthful 
travelers. ' ' 

"Papa  says  these  roads  were  badly  managed, 
because  the  men  in  control  made  them  subordinate 
altogether  to  profits. ' ' 

"There  is  no  doubt,  Ray,  that  outworld  profits 
doubled  and  trebled  all  costs  the  moment  we  crossed 
our  thresholds ;  and  heaven  knows  we  had  skimping 
enough  at  home." 

"That  must  have  made  your  home  a  sort  of 
prison.  I  don't  wonder  so  many  of  your  boys  tried 
to  run  away.  I  heard  about  them. ' ' 


58  The  Making  of  a  Millennium. 

"I  once  tried  that  myself,"  I  admitted,  "and  I 
found  it  like  jumping  from  the  frying  pan  into  the 
fire." 

"It's  just  as  Papa  told  me.  In  the  smaller 
towns  you  had  no  hotels  able  to  accommodate  one  of 
our  classes,  and  in -the  larger  places  the  irregularity 
of  the  patronage  occasioned  such  hasty  cooking  and 
such  noisy  clatter  in  the  service,  it  was  enough  to 
produce  indigestion. ' ' 

' l  You  were  fortunate  in  being  born  here,  Bay, ' ' 
I  remarked.  "But  how  about  poor  children,  espe- 
cially in  large  families — they  surely  can't  afford 
these  luxuries ! ' ' 

"That  don't  make  a  particle  of  difference,^'  the 
little  miss  replied.  "School  children  earn  wages 
here,  and  the  more  there  are  in  the  family  the  more 
they  can  afford  to  spend. ' ' 

"You  don't  mean  to  say,  Bay,  that  school  chil- 
dren are  obliged  to  work  here,"  I  exclaimed,  perfect- 
ly astonished.  "I'm  surprised  at  such  a  thing, — in 
this  land  of  prosperity. " 

"Why,  of  course  we  do,"  she  expostulated  with 
an  injured  air,  glancing  reproachfully  at  me.  "You 
think  perhaps  going  to  school  is  play.  If  it  isn't  do- 
ing any  good,  what's  the  use  of  going!  Our  people 
view  early  training  in  the  same  way  as  we  do  the 
planting  of  trees  which  may  be  years  before  yielding 
any  fruit.  It's  just  like  planning — the  beginning, 
and  often  the  most  important  part  of  the  work.  If 
you  don't  pay  children  in  the  outworld  for  their 
school  studies,  it's  because  you're  too  poor,  and  for 
that  reason  never  thought  of  it.  .  Wouldn  't  I  like  to 
go  to  school  there!  Work  till  you're  tired  out,  and 
never  a  penny  for  all  your  trouble!  Instead  of  get- 


A  Youthful  Wage  Earner. 


59 


ting  money  you    often    got    whippings, — just    like 
slaves!" 

"Don't  cry,  my  darling,"  I  urged,  observing  the 
tears  in  her  eyes.  "You  must  bear  in  mind  that  the 
outworld  is  very  dull  in  some  matters;  it  is  civilized, 
I  admit,  but  far  from  being  humanized. ' ' 


Sympathetic  Tears. 

A  light  suddenly  beamed  in  her  tear-stained 
eyes,  and  I  thought  I  discerned  a  mischievous 
twinkle. 

"I  know  why  they  don't  pay  their  school  chil- 
dren," she  resumed. 

"Why,  my  little  breadwinner?"    I  responded. 

"Because  they  had  nothing  left  after  paying 
grown  folks  for  their  studies." 


60  The  Making  of  a  Millennium. 

"Paying  grown  folks!  What  do  you  mean  by 
that?" 

1 '  Oh  pshaw,  you  know.  Grown  folks  studied  all 
sorts  of  schemes  for  making  fortunes,  and  Papa 
says  fortunes  were  only  respectable  robber  castles. 
When  a  man  had  a  fortune  he  didn't  have  to  work, 
while  everybody  else  had  to  starve  and  work  extra 
to  make  up  for  it;  such  men  could  dispense  favors, 
and  were  courted  and  flattered  like  princes.  These 
men  studied  merely  how  to  scoop  up  everything 
that  wasn't  held  down  by  iron  clad  law,  and  with  the 
lever  of  money  to  pry  loose  even  the  iron  bars  of 
law,  as  fast  as  enacted.  They  studied  the  art  of 
gathering  wealth,  not  producing  it,  and  the  question 
of  right  or  wrong  or  whether  any  good  was  being 
done  never  troubled  them." 

"But  everybody  had  the  same  chance,  didn't 
they,  Bay?"  I  asked. 

"Oh,  Mr.  Eusk!  Do  you  believe  that?  Do  you 
think  anyone  possessed  with  the  least  conscience 
could  enter  with  any  spirit  into  the  merciless,  treach- 
erous and  coldblooded  scramble  of  outworld  com- 
merce ?  Papa  says  neither  the  best  nor  the  smartest 
men  could  come  to  the  top  in  its  corrupt  atmosphere, 
any  more  than  they  could  under  any  system  of  uni- 
versal piracy  and  "brigandage.  Papa  says  the  char- 
acter of  the  system  dictates  the  character  of  the  men 
it  elevates.  He  says  they  had  the  sharpness  of  crim- 
inals, and  were,  taken  all  in  all,  men  of  very  narrow 
intellect.  Oh  I  just  hate  those  capitalists !  I  wonder 
what  the  horrid  creatures  look  like.  Wouldn't  I  pull 
their  ears,  though,  if  I  had  the  chance ! ' ' 

"Would  you  pull  my  ears  also,  Bay,  if  I  were 
to  confess  having  been  one  of  them — in  a  small 
way?"  I  asked. 


A  Youthful  Wage  Earner.  61 

' '  Not  if  you  promise  never  to  become  one  again. 
Will  you  promise?" 

"You  little  vixen.  How  dare  you  be  so  rude," 
her  father  interposed,  having  arrived  upon  the  scene 
in  time  to  overhear  her  last  remark. 

"She's  all  right,  Bob,"  I  explained.  "She's 
been  doing  good  missionary  service.  She  has  taught 
me  that  even  the  studies  of  a  child  are  productive, 
and  worthy  of  a  wage. ' ' 

"I'm  glad  you  concede  the  justice  of  such  a 
wage,"  my  host  retorted,  "for  the  principle  in- 
volved is  one  of  the  cardinal  points  of  our  distribu- 
tive system.  We  aim  to  recognize  all  effort  or  ex- 
ertion made  for  either  present  or  future  good — 
whether  done  by  the  woman  in  the  household,  the 
child  at  school,  the  apprentice  learning  his  trade,  the 
student  of  any  profession  or  occupation  requiring 
special  training,  the  philosopher,  the  discoverer,  the 
artist,  the  inventor,  or  any  person  devoting  his  ef- 
forts for  either  the  remote  or  the  general  good. ' ' 

"You  must  have  rivers  of  gold  here,"  said  I, 
"to  be  able  to  maintain  pay  rolls  for  all  these. 
Where  do  you  secure  the  means?" 

"Out  of  the  products  of  the  past  labors  of  a 
similar  class,"  was  the  reply.  "The  fact  that  their 
labors  culminate  at  a  more  remote  period  or  in  a 
diffused  utility  is  no  reason  why  they  should  not  be 
entitled  to  present  pay  equally  as  well  as  other  pro- 
ducers. The  District  Temples  see  to  it  that  each 
producing  temple  contributes  its  proper  share  to- 
ward this  out  of  its  gross  revenues.  The  District 
Temples  is  paymaster  for  all  those  whose  produc- 
tion does  not  accrue  to  any  individual  temple." 

"Don't  you  glut  your  prof essions ?"  I  asked. 


62  The  Making  of  a  Millennium. 

' '  Far  from  it, ' '  was  the  quick  response.  ' l  They 
are  no  more  crowded  than  are  other  fields.  The 
period  of  training  being  much  longer  than  in  most 
occupations,  and  the  tests  of  ability  being  also  more 
severe,  keep  it  from  ever  becoming  so  crowded  as  to 
lower  the  attraction  of  success.  Nor  is  success  here 
jeopardized  by  the  presence  of  a  wealthy  mediocrity ; 
for  the  only  rank  receiving  recognition  is  that  of 
merit. ' ' 

"The  District  Temple,"  my  friend,  in  response 
to  an  inquiry  from  me,  afterwards  explained.,  "is  a 
higher  temple  comprising  representatives  chosen 
from  the  various  industrial,  residence  and  agricul- 
tural temples  of  the  district.  It  is  empowered  to 
govern  all  their  necessary  interrelations  and  to  aid 
them  in  all  endeavors  to  unify  methods  and  forms 
whenever  preferred.  It  vitalizes  the  social  energies 
of  the  temples  even  as  the  latter  vitalize  those  of 
their  individual  members." 

"Where,  if  I  may  ask,"  I  inquired,  "does  the 
authority  of  your  temple  government  begin?" 

"All  powers  inhere  in  the  individual,"  was  the 
reply,  "except  insofar  as  they  are  temporarily  dele- 
gated to  other  authorities.  Each  temple  exercises 
authority  over  its  members  through  officials  chosen 
by  the  members — a  majority  of  whom  determine  all 
matters,  and  never  a  minority  disguised  under  re- 
quirements of  a  two-third  vote.  A  minority  rule  in- 
trenched is  only  a  premium  put  on  rebellion;  it  is  a 
pyramid  resting  on  its  apex,  and  instead  of  insuring 
stability  is  in  the  long  run  the  obverse.  It  is  the  bad 
law  and  not  the  good  one  that  needs  fear  of  securing 
a  majority.  Of  course,  our  political  machinery  is 
simpler,  having  none  of  the  bribery  and  corruption 


A  Youthful  Wage  Earner.  63 

of  capitalism  to  contend  with  and  no  weakness  to 
shield  through  despotic  laws.  Our  judiciary  also 
confines  its  power  to  advisory  functions  that  supple- 
ment the  work  of  the  legislators  and  are  never  per- 
mitted to  usurp  their  authority.  The  property  in 
self-protecting,  law-making  power,  that  inheres  in 
the  people,  cannot  be  usurped  under  pretense  of 
shielding  any  special  property;  for  unless  the  com- 
mon property  of  all  is  uniformly  shielded  the  bul- 
wark of  property  rights  is  destroyed  and  the  whole 
fabric  must  fall." 

''You  have  no  need  of  labor  unions,  I  suppose?" 
I  asked. 

"Not  such  as  exist  in  the  outwork,"  .was  the 
reply.  "Our  industrial  temples  fill  their  place,  and 
Gentry  does  away  with  aggressive  labor  movements. 
Open  shops  are  perfectly  safe  and  harmless  here, 
and  our  District  Temples  guard  the  admission  to 
crafts  and  professions,  as  well  as  to  apprenticeship. 
They  see  to  it  that  no  monopoly  bars  anyone's  ad» 
mission  and  that  all  applicants  are  amply  informed 
and,  so  far  as  can  be  determined,  fitted  for  the  avo- 
cation selected." 

Favorably  impressed  with  these  regulations, 
I  mentioned  the  fact  to  my  friend. 

"That  is  only  a  small  part  of  .what  we  do,"  ho 
responded.  "On  admission  to  his  craft  fellowship 
or  to  his  profession,  as  tiio  case  may  be.  the  gradu- 
ate is  given  his  craft  patrimony — consisting  of  an 
amount  of  temple  stock  gauged  according  to  his 
earning  capacity  and  subject  to  future  alteration  on 
that  basis." 

"Do  they  ever  speculate  with  that  stock?"  I 
asked. 


64  The  Making  of  a  Millennium. 

"The  stock  is  made  inalienable --at  least  so  far 
as  its  equivalent  is  concerned." 

"What  is  .the  good  of  having  it,"  1  asked,  "if 
you  can't  sell  it, — since  no  dividends  can  accrue  un- 
der Centrism?" 

"You  are  mistaken  as  to  dividends,  Ben,"  my 
friend  responded.  ' '  We  have,  for  example,  one  div- 
idend called  the  wage  surplus,  paid  quarterly,  which 
is  a  portion  of  the  wage  withheld  to  obviate  possible 
overdraft,  in  case  the  actual  earning  fell  behind  the 
fixed  wage  standard.  Then  there  is  another  called 
the  superwage  which  consists  in  the  amount  earned 
over  and  above  the  fixed  standard.  This  dividend 
is  not  an  economic  profit,  but  a  legitimate  product  of 
superior  management  which  may  be  due  to  various 
causes, — such  for  example,  as  the  selection  of  ex- 
ceptionally able  managers,  harmonious  co-operation, 
the  early  adoption  of  superior  machinery — in  fact, 
any  honorable  method  by  which  their  work  as  a 
-whole  is  made  exceptionally  effective.  This  divi- 
dend corresponds  with  the  increase  in  the  earnings 
of  skilled  as  compared  with  unskilled  labor.  It  real- 
ly represents  a  species  of  collective  skill  and  it  pro- 
duces an 'increased  product, — in  no  sense  a  graft  on 
anyone  else 's  product,  such  as  capitalistic  profits. ' ' 

Through  this  allotment  of  stocks  among  the  pro- 
ducers it  seemed  to  me  their  wealth  was  kept  thor- 
oughly diffused — as  much  so  as  if  owned  collective- 
ly, while  going  further  than  common  ownership  by 
also  distributing  its  custody  and  management; — also 
diffused — in  the  hands  of  those  especially  qualified 
for  the  handling  of  the  particular  forms  of  wealth 
and  industries  to  be  dealt  with.  This  equilibrium 
of  wealth  answered  all  the  ends  of  socialization,  ac- 


A  Youthful  Wage  Earner.  65 

complishing  at  the  same  time  the  otherwise  diffi- 
cult task  of  its  administration. 

Soon  after  the  advent  of  Centrism  every  wage 
earner  was  required  to  acquire  a  competence,  em- 
bracing both  a  home  and  work  equipment  propor- 
tional to  the  rental  paid  or  the  wage  earned,  wheth- 
er paid  for,  or  acquired  subject  to  monthly  instal- 
ments. After  these  were  acquired  a  perpetuation 
tax  was  levied  on  all  owners,  by  which  the  compe- 
tence was  perpetuated,  enhanced  from  generation 
to  generation  to  meet  the  improvement  in  standards 
and  the  increase  in  number  of  the  population.  It 
was  a  light  tax  representing  about  5  per  cent,  of  the 
principal  involved  in  the  competence,  or  about  3  per 
cent,  of  what  the  gross  principal  involved  in  out- 
world  properties  would  have  been,  where  land  cost 
and  profits  together  with  the  great  redundancy  of 
business  capital  swelled  the  principal  enormously 
and  taxed  industry  on  this  basis  with  interest,  wear 
and  risks  from  10  to  15  per  cent  as  compared  with  3 
per  cent  here- — at  least  three  to  five-fold  the  amount 
Templorians  had  to  pay  for  like  benefits. 

The  heritage  of  each  successive  generation  was 
thus  insured  against  the  rapacity  of  the  capitalist, 
as  well  as  against  the  indigence  of  reckless  or 
thoughtless  parents.  The  young  tortoise  is  not  to 
be  sent  adrift  parted  from  its  shell,  at  the  mercy  of 
every  predatory  creature  of  the  field;  both  parents 
and  statutes  must  be  subordinated  to  the  greater 
law  of  life. 

"How  about  the  management  of  business?"  I 
inquired.  "Isn't  itTather  difficult  where  everybody 
has  a  voice  in  the  affairs?" 


66  The  Making  of  a  Millennium. 

' '  On  the  contrary, ' '  was  the  response,  "  the  fact 
that  everybody  has  a  voice  is  a  great  aid  to  the  man- 
agement which  receives  valuable  suggestions  such 
as  would  never  be  given  where  the  antagonism  of  in- 
terests and  mutual  mistrust  of  capitalism  prevailed. 
The  secret  briberies,  grafts  and  other  influences  that 
inject  themselves  into  all  forms  of  association  under 
the  profit  system  tended  to  isolate  the  management 
from  the  co-operation  of  those  who  worked,  and  the 
tenure  of  a  job  was  so  fickle  that  workers  seldom 
took  a  deeper  interest  in  affairs  than  would  secure 
their  wage.  You  must  also  bear  in  mind  the.  fact 
that  the  voice  of  our  laity  is  not  so  dangerous 
here  where  business  seldom  results  contrary  to  the 
judgment  of  plain,  ordinary  reason.  Neither  are  the 
ways  of  the  practices  of  business  so  fickle,  nor  the 
difficulties  of  getting  it  or  of  financing  it  so  precar- 
ious. The  tests  of  success  do  not  involve 
the  iniquities  nor  the  secrecies  that,  forbid  extensive 
co-operation." 

"Do  women  also  receive  patrimony?"  I  next  in- 
quired. 

"Women  are  the  principal  operatives  in  the 
residence  temples,"  he  answered,  "and  its  stock  is 
mostly  in  their  control.  Woman  is  not  only  queen 
of  the  parlor  and  the  kitchen,  but  of  all  institutions 
directly  relating  to  the  home." 

"And  in  the  political  field,"  added  Mrs.  Man- 
oah,  joining  us,  "woman  is  on  a  perfect  equality 
with  man.  After  you  observe  the  purity  of  our  poli- 
tics you  will  readily  understand  why  men  no  longer 
dreaded  our  admission  into  this  field.  Considering 
the  corrupted  currents  of  outworld  commerce,  your 
politics — black  as  they  have  appeared — were  cleanli- 


A  Youthful  Wage  Earner. 


67 


ness  itself.  The  childish  delusion  of  expecting  to 
cleanse  politics  while  united  with  the  inky  pool  of 
commercial  corruption  was  very  amusing, — and  the 
more  so,  in  view  of  the  open  confession  of  the  secret 
ballot — made  imperative  in  the  face  of  the  irrespon- 
sible despotism  or  commerce." 


Rope,  Length,  Freedom. 

How  many  nations  boasting  of  liberty  would 
dare  put  it- to  the  test  of  an  open  ballot?  What  sort 
of  liberty  indeed  is  this  rope-length  freedom  by 
which  men  stand  tethered — within  its  circle,  strained 
and  starving  faculties,  and  beyond,  the  desert  of  un- 
employment and  utter  starvation? 

"Is  it  not  monotonous,"  I  asked  my  hostess, 
"to  spend  all  one's  days  in  a  single  residence  or 
work  temple!" 

"Monotonous!  What  makes  you  think  so,  Ben," 
she  exclaimed  in  evident  astonishment.  "With  the 
latitude  allowed  us  in  selecting  our  hours  of  work; 


68  The  Making  of  a  Millennium. 

in  taking  vacations ;  in  travel ;  in  club  life ;  in  pursuit 
of  the  varied  professional,  trade,  scientific,  art,  phil- 
osophic and  other  cults;  and  with  the  resources  of 
recreation  and  amusement,  of  outdoor  life  on  park- 
way and  farmway,  so  available ;  how  could  life  ever 
become  monotonous? 

"As  to  being  chained  to  a  single  temple — why 
should  this  be  necessary?  Nowhere  is  it  easier  or 
less  costly  to  make  a  removal,  for  all  our  household 
appointments  are  designed  with  foresight  covering 
facilities  for  removals,  and  our  transportation  also 
is  so  gauged  that  a  side  track  holding  a  car  is  avail- 
able to  each  temple.  The  cars  furnished  are  also 
equipped  to  facilitate  the  stowage  of  goods  without 
much  special  wrapping  and  packing.  Served  also 
at  cost,  it  is  very  little  expense  to  move  to  the  re- 
motest sections.  You  are  also  given  for  your  tem- 
ple stock  a  par-value  order,  transferable  for  the 
stock  of  any  other  temple,  so  that  you  virtually 
trade  homes  without  having  suffered  a  particle  of 
loss." 

"After  all  though,  you  are  still  tenants,"  I 
protested.  "You  pay  a  regular  stipend  similar  to 
rent,  and  you  can't  dispose  of  your  homes  as  you 
please. ' ' 

"From  one  point  of  view,"  my  hostess  re- 
sponded, "we  would  never  consider  that  a  home 
which  could  be  severed  from  the  family  at  the  whim 
of  any  one  or  two  of  its  members.  A  home  is  some- 
thing more  than  brick  and  mortar  transferable  for 
any  mess  of  Esau's  pottage.  It  is  an  institution 
sanctified  to  the  family  in  its  broadest  sense,  to  be 
passed  down  enlarged  and  enhanced  through  all  the 
generations — an  intact  wealth  suffering  no  child  to 


A  Youthful  Wage  Earner.  69 

forfeit  its  due  heritage  or  be  bent  under  the  burden 
of  incumbrances.  The  mess  of  pottage  shall  sell  no 
child  into  bondage  or  cast  it  adrift — a  homeless 
wanderer. 

1  'As  to  the  stipends  we  pay,  they  must  not  be 
compared  with  rents.  They  are  the  cost  of  repro- 
duction— a  sacred  obligation  that  perpetuates  its 
sanctity;  they  do  not  involve  sacrifice  of  the  bread 
belonging  to  our  children,  nor  otherwise  violate  the 
sanctity  of  its  roof." 


CHAPTER  V. 

Everybody's  Sabbath. 

"And  the  night  shall  be  filled  with  music, 

And  the  cares  that  infest  the  day, 
Shall  fold  their  tents,  like  the  Arabs, 

And  as   silently   steal   away." 

— Longfellow. 

"Ting-a-ling." 

"That's  for  me,"  exclaimed  Robert  Manoah, 
stepping  hurriedly  to  the  phone. 

"Hello!  At  the  mechanical  exhibit?  Pshaw! 
I'd  come  immediately,  Carson,  if  this  wern't  a  holi- 
day. You  know,  we're  on  Pleasant  parkway— 

' '  Yes  the  Push  league  will  make  a  test  model— 

"The  Push  League!  It's  a  body  authorized  by 
the  District  Temple  to  promote  enterprises  in  art, 
literature,  invention  or  other  fields,  that  are  too 
large  for  single-handed  undertaking — 

"About  that  smelting  project?  That's  to  be 
put  to  an  'ay  or  nay'  vote.  If  it  carries,  the  District 
Temples  will  raise  the  necessary  funds  by  a  uniform 
levy  on  all  the  temples.  If  voted  down  a  private 
company  may  then  be  organized  and  may  operate 
until  it  either  fails  or  has  earned  for  itself  the  full 
hundred  per  cent,  of  risk  profit  allowed  under  the 
law— 

"After  that?  Oh,  after  that  the  properties  are 
all  turned  over  to  the  District  Temples  at  cost  and 
thereafter  operated  like  all  established  industries, 
on  a  cost  basis — 


Everybody's  Sabbath.  71 

"Raising  sufficient  funds?  No  trouble  at  all— 
if  the  scheme  is  at  all  feasible— 

"Oh, 'no,  no  scarcity  at  all.  One  can  raise  ten 
to  one  as  compared  with  the  outworld — I  would 
hazard  saying  fifty  to  one.  Legitimate  affairs  have 
the  field  here  all  to  themselves — only  new  and  un- 


At  the  'Phone. 

redundant  enterprises — requiring  merely  the  small- 
est mite  of  the  available  resources— 

"I  can  comprehend  the  difficulty,  of  raising 
money  in  the  outworld  where  a  pestiferous. redun- 
dancy of  enterprises  is  always  clamoring  for  it  and 
where  the  fearful  hazards  of  business  are  a  power- 
ful deterrent. 

"Our  investors  are  a  different  type  altogether, 
bear  in  mind,  from  those  in  the  outworld;  they  don't 


72  The  Making  of  a  Millennium. 

expect  fortunes,  and  their  motive  is  seldom  merely 
the  money  that  is  to  be  made.  They  largely  invest 
because  of  their  sympathy  with  the  enterprise  as  one 
deserving  of  promotion.  Pardon  my  remark,  but  it 
appears  to  me  as  if  that  habit  of  being  actuated 
merely  by  the  profits  to  be  acquired  made  you  judge 
human  flesh  in  the  same  manner — buying  and  sell- 
ing, hiring,  marrying,  and  entering  into  all  occupa- 
tions and  into  all  sorts  of  communion  on  a  similarly 
cold-blooded  'business'  basis— 

"Pardon  me,  but  I'm  merely  giving  you  my 
view  of  these  matters  as  they  appear  from  Tem- 
ploria." 

"That's  Carson,  May — you  heard  me  mention 
his  name.  He 's  the  queer  Philadelphian  who  always 
talks  about  money  and  stocks.  He's  looking  for  a 
scheme  to  promote  here  in  which  he  could  make  a 
new  fortune  like  that  he  had  in  the  outworld.  I'm 
afraid,  however,  it  will  be  sour  grapes  he'll  pick  in 
this  vineyard." 

"I  wondered  why  he  wanted  your  services  to- 
day," his  cheerful  spouse  responded.  "Poor  fel- 
low !  He  is  unable  to  stop  thinking  of  money  making. 
He  talks  of  nothing  else.  There's  no  question  about 
his  ideas  of  business  being  sound  by  outworld  stand- 
ards, but  his  expectations  of  making  a  quick  for- 
tune here  are  a  trifle  Quixotic. ' ' 

"Excuse  me,  Bob,  if  I'm  intruding  in  private 
matters,"  I  interrupted,  "but  didn't  I  hear  you 
talking  of  profits?  I  thought  profits  were  impos- 
sible under  Centrism.  I  see,  like  Banquo's  ghost, 
they  are  bound  to  be  cropping  up — eh?" 

"Eavesdroppers  seldom  hear  much  good  said 
about  them,"  my  friend  retorted.  "I  should  have 


Everybody's  Sabbath.  73 

used  the  word  'riskage'  instead  of  'risk  profits.' 
Kiskage  is  merely  the  actual  hazard  of  an  undertak- 
ing, but  involves  no  element  of  economic  profits. 
This  allowance  merely  throws  open  to  private  in- 
'  itiative  such  enterprises  as  are  rejected  by  the  Dis- 
trict Temples,  after  having  been  submitted  to  popular 
vote;  and  the  fact  of  a  concentrated  responsibility 
behind  them  often  insures  a  more  careful 
management  and  renders  the  hazard  in  this  manner 
less  costly  than  when  conducted  by  the  District 
Temples." 

"I  see  you  also  have  to  encourage  art  more  or 
less  in  such  a  manner;"  said  I,  "it  surely  must  miss 
the  powerful  support  of  a  wealthy  class." 

"On  the  contrary,"  explained  Mrs.  Manoah, 
"the  absence  of  a  wealthy  class  has  been  a  blessing 
to  it.  What  healthy  plant  could  grow  in  a  dungeon 
of  dependence?  And  what  sort  of  an  audience  for 
art  is  a  mammon-minded  world?  It  is  the  general 
opinion  here  that  what  art  lost  under  capitalism  for 
want  of  a  broad  and  inspired  audience  of  inde'pend- 
ent  souls  was  poorly  compensated  by  the  paltry 
crumbs  doled  out  to  it  from  the  wealthy. ' ' 

"Changing  the  subject,"  her  husband  now  in- 
terposed," where  are  we  to  go  today!  This  being 
our  sabbath,  Ben,  I  suggest  that  you  observe  the  day 
with  us.  What  say  you?" 

I  must  have  looked  rather  sheepish  at  this  ref- 
erence to  the  sabbath — the  day  being  Thursday. 

"Why  not  Thursday!"  he  protested,  observing 
my  bewilderment.  "It's  as  good  a  day  as  Sunday; 
in  fact,  a  better  one  for  us.  We  make  the  day  a 
real  holiday — a  complete  day  of  rest — a  day  of  re- 
laxation, on  which  the  cares  of  both  this  world  and 


74  The  Making  of  a  Millennium. 

the  next  are  laid  aside,  while  we  surrender  ourselves 
entirely  to  the  bliss  of  innocent  enjoyments. ' ' 

"That  sounds  very  nice,"  I  protested,  "but  who 
in  the  meantime  prepare  your  meals?  Who  oper- 
ate your  cars  ?  Who  do  all  the  little  chores  and  nec- 
essary drudgeries  of  the  household — a  thousand  and 
one  indispensable  details'?" 

"Sweet  angels  from  heaven  come  down  to  do 
these  things  for  us,"  my  amiable  hostess  twittingly 
remarked.  "All  through  Pleasant  parkway  our 
household  help  is  on  a  strike  today.  We  are  not  lift- 
ing a  hand.  It  must  seem  very  strange,  I  know,  to 
you ;  for  in  the  outworld  this  would  doubtless  be  con- 
sidered household  anarchy,  or  perhaps  domestic 
treason. ' ' 

"If  you  revert  to  Puritanical  simplicity,  and 
deny  yourselves  everything,"  I  retorted,  "in  what 
respect  is  the  strain  of  your  self  denial-  a  greater  re- 
lief from  effort  than  work  itself?" 

"Deny  ourselves  everything?  Why,  Ben,  we 
really"  have  more  enjoyments  on  the  sabbath  than 
on  any  other  day." 

"Until  you  explain  how  it  is  done,  I  assure 
you,"  said  I,  "it  will  remain  as  much  a  puzzle  to 
me  as  ever.  What  I  don't  see  is  how  you  can  have 
so  much  fiddling  without  fiddlers." 

"I  see,  Ben,  you  don't  believe  in  angels  from 
heaven.  Our  heaven  in  this  instance  is  the  unity  of 
the  temple  system,  and  the  angels  are  a  corps  of 
workers  whom  the  District  Temples  sends  to  relieve 
us.  Each  of  the  parkways  has  its  own  separate  sab- 
bath day  on  which  a  special  corps  comes  to  relieve 
it.  This  gives  us  what  we  call  the  alternate  or  spe- 
cialized sabbath."  • 


Everybody's  Sabbath.  75 

How  often  had  I  deplored  the  modern  inroads 
upon  the  sanctity  of  the  outworld  sabbath — its  in- 
congruous sandwich  of  pious  solemnities  and  grimy 
impieties.  What  a  compromise  it  made  with  the 
imperious  demands  of  commerce,  the  tyranny  of 
hunger  and  the  cry  for  comforts  and  attentions. 
What  a  travesty  of  contradictions.  What  a"  patch- 
work of  strain  and  denials  to  offer  at  the  altar  of 
rest.  Sweet  psalms  and  soothing  sermons  may  soft- 
en the  harsh  notes  of  discord,  but  the  self-satisfied 
rest  in  which  but  few  can  indulge  is  not  the  sabbath 
ordained  by  the  Lord.  Even  an  all  day  rest  on  Sun- 
day is  no  sabbath,  if  paid  for  with  weekday  over- 
work. The  employer  who  merely  allows  his  men 
rest  on  one  day,  after  being  taxed  the  difference  in 
overtime  on  the  other  six  days,  has  not  kept  the  sab- 
bath day  holy. 

"Your  church  services,  I  should  imagine,"  said 
I,  after  some  pause, 1 1  are  held  on  week  days. ' ' 

"We  do  not  hold  formal  services,"  Grandpa 
Zeke  responded.  "Our  worship  conforms  to  our 
conception  as  to  our  place  in  life.  With  us  it  is  a 
reality  that  Grod  is  everywhere  and  sees  everything. 
As  we  view  life,  the  whole  realm  of  existence  is  His 
house  and  all  the  years  witness  His  continuous  crea- 
tion, in  which  we — within  our  narrow  limits — are 
of  His  instruments — not  merely  passive  clay,  but 
molding  as  well  as  being  molded.  The  spirit  of  the 
Divinity  and  of  the  demoniac  are  both  lodged  within 
us — within  all  being — the  essence  of  religion  being 
to  us  an  open-eyed  struggle  to  rise. 

"Searching  for  higher  ideals  and  striving  for 
their  achievement,  we  participate  in  the  grand 
everyday  creation — led,  as  it  were,  like  children,  by 


76  The  Making  of  a  Millennium. 

God 's  hand.  Is  not  progress  the  spirit  of  creation- 
God  's  hand  at  work — each  creature  being  an  instru- 
ment in  His  hand  to  serve  its  purpose?  What  higher 
worship  then  than  that  of  serving  progress  and 
hearkening  to  the  voice  that  speaks  to  us  today  in 
clearer  tone  than  in  all  ages  past?  What  Babel- 
building  worship  is  it  that  would  circumscribe  the 
infinite  within  finite  limitations  and  forestall  the  in- 
finite expansion  of  growth  with  rigid  creed  and  dog- 
ma ?  Are  not  these  all  idol  creeds  and  idol  dogmas — 
another  idol  worship  ? 

"To  us  the  Creator  is  interpretable  only  in 
terms  of  creation — of  progress — growth — life — in- 
telligence. No  fatherhood  is  worshipped  through 
arbitrary  creeds  charged  with  repellent  elements 
hostile  to  brotherhood.  Only  sin  and  ruin  lie  in  the 
course  of  these  growth-denying  and  God-denying 
yokes.  Not  by  mere  words  is  the  Lord  worshipped, 
but  by  deeds — deeds  that  go  hand  in  hand  with  His 
work  of  creation." 

"From  your  remarks  I  should  judge,"  said  I, 
1 1  you  do  not  take  the  Bible  literally. ' ' 

"No  more  than  we  take  the  earth  literally,"  he 
replied.  "Should  we  have  allowed  the  earth  to  re- 
main just  as  we  had  found  it — unchallenged — ac- 
cepting its  raw  state  as  final  and  unimprovable- 
allowing  it  to  remain  uncultivated,  with  never  a 
weed  pulled,  a  rock  removed,  a  marsh  filled,  or  a 
beast  of  the  forest  subdued?  If  the  gift  of  the  ma- 
terial world  was  bestowed  in  crude  form  to  be  de- 
veloped through  the  sweat  of  our  brows,  is  it  not 
also  evident  that  the  spiritual  world'  has  for  us  a 
similar  mission — to  lift  our  minds  and  souls  out  of 
the  mires  of  slothful  indolence?  Has  it  not  come  to 


Everybody's  Sabbath.  77 

us  in  dull  crudity,  like  the  uncultivated  earth, 
rich  in  substance,  full  of  heavenly  gems,  though  re- 
quiring to  be  plucked  of  its  tares  and  weeds — to 
have  its  thorns  cut  down,  its  mountains  leveled  and 
its  marshes  filled,  and  all  its  dark  places  lightened? 
What  greater  irreverence  can  be  imagined  than  a 
mock  worship  in  which  there  is  no  understanding. 
The  book  is  desecrated  when  held  before  the  eye  to 
hide  from  view  the  broader  book  of  life — God-given, 
with  greater  truth  and  greater  signs  of  miracle  than 
this  mere  word  in  the  greater  book.  This  sacred 
book  of  life  is  the  Templorian  Bible — as  broad  as 
life  and  as  expansive  as  growth — in  perfect  allign- 
ment  with  both  the  work  and  the  spirit  of  creation— 
a  book  in  which  all  man-made,  books  are  but  as  lines 
and  paragraphs  of  its  broad  pages. 

"The  true  reverence  for  our  Creator  lies  in  a 
humble  attitude  to  the  decrees  of  being — to  law — 
subordinating  all  our  man-governing  laws  to  its 
light,  without  which  they  will  give  but  a  flickering 
service  and  possibly  yield  a  blighting  curse.  There 
is  no  reverence  in  a  closed  eye,  a  heart  seared  with 
cowardice  or  a  truth  hidden  from  men  through  mis- 
trust of  knowledge.  There  is  only  atrophy  and 
death  in  blind  worship,  aimless  sacrifices  and  empty 
standards." 

The  ride  to  the  pleasure  resort  at  which  we 
spent  the  day  was  itself  a  source  of  delight,  the  ab- 
sence of  jar  and  discomfort  enabling  us  to  enjoy  the 
varied  scenery  along  the  way.  I  could  not  after- 
wards avoid  contrasting  it  with  the  customary  Sun- 
day excursions  in  my  own  country,  where  passen- 
gers were  usually  packed  in  like  salted  herrings  with 


78 


The  Making  of  a  Millennium. 


a  few  mammoth  specimens  dangling  over  the  steps 
of  the  cars. 

Wherever  we  visited  there  was  convenience, 
comfort  and  ample  provision  for  all  wants.  There 
was  no  note  of  feverish  haste  and  flurry,  and  no 
catch-penny  discord  to  mar  the  quiet  harmony  of  our 


Packed  Like  Salted  Herrings. 

surroundings.  Everything  possible  seems  to  have 
been  arranged  for  the  enhancement  of  our  pleasure, 
the  keynote  of  all  the  attentions  bestowed  on  us  be- 
ing an  unobtrusive  service.  Neither  was  our  free- 
dom marred  by  narrow  rules — for  the  true  spirit  of 
freedom  which  comes  of  a  due  respect  for  the  liberty 
of  others,  seemed  to  be  strongly  inculcated  in  all  per- 
sons with  whom  we  came  in  contact. 

Nowhere  did  we  encounter  the  faintest  hint  of 
drunkenness  or  rowdyism,  exhibitions  of  which  I 


Everybody's  Sabbath.  79 

was  told  were  as  extinct  here  as  the  dodo ;  these 
weaknesses  and  vulgarities  had  long  ago  evaporated 
along  with  a  large  number  of  other  petty  vices  that 
clung  to  the  skirts  of  capitalism. 

Let  no  one,  however,  imagine  that  because  of 
the  absence  of  jostling  crowds  and  noise  of 
catch-penny  gimcracks,  we  had  anything  like  a  Qua- 
ker celebration.  "We  made  the  welkin  ring  with  song 
and  speech,  declaiming  and  rehearsing  dramatic 
scenes,  telling  good  old  reminiscent  stories,  crossing 
swords  in  discussion,  and  what  with  bathing,  rowing 
and  general  romping,  we  passed  the  day  as  frolick- 
some  as  children. 

Altogether  there  was  no  disputing  the  practical 
value  of  the  Templorian  sabbath.  Its  alternating 
vitalized  the  day  into  a  real  sabbath,  each  parkway 
having  its  own  separate  day  into  which  it  could  enter 
with  heart  and  soul.  It  was  a  real  day  of  rest  for  all, 
such  as  modern  conditions  could  give  in  no  other 
way. 

How  strangely  it  now  seemed  to  me  that  out- 
worlders  should  be  doing  all  their  catering  with  the 
same  senseless  rush  and  stew  and  with  the  same  ex- 
travagance in  cost  as  characterized  their  Sunday 
service.  They  were  constantly  congesting  their  ca- 
pricious trade  into  holiday  seasons,  fair  weeks,  and 
hand-to-mouth  feast-and-famine  fluctuations,  follow- 
ing every  whim  of  the  seasons  and  of  the  weather — 
and  constantly  adding  to  the  risks  of  the  individual 
merchant  as  well  as  the  cost  of  the  service.  It  some- 
how seemed  to  be  lacking  in  order,  in  unity,  in  har- 
mony, with  the  spirit  of  life ;  there  was  something  in 
it  that  appealed  to  me  as  ungodly. 


CHAPTER  VI. 
A  Career  of  Forgeries. 

"And  be  these  juggling  fiends  no  more  believed, 
That  palter  with  us  in  a  double  sense; 
That  keep  the  word  of  promise  to  our  ear, 
And  break  it  to  our  hope." 

— Shakespeare. 

"If  solidarity  is  any  criterion,  I'd  class  Cen- 
trism  as  socialistic,"  said  Captain  Clark,  in  the 
course  of  a  discussion  among  a  coterie  of  Falcon 
survivors.  They  were  seated  in  the  temple  hall  ante 
room,  awaiting  the  moment,  soon  to  arrive,  for  their 
public  installation  into  Templorian  citizenship. 

"As  it  appears  to  me,"  responded  Dick  Bur- 
ton, the  former  labor  leader,  "it's  a  happy  blend  of 
individualism  and  collectivism,  with  capitalism 
squeezed  out.  It  might  just  as  well  be  called  econo- 
mic unionism —  a  union  in  which  consumer  and  pro- 
ducer are  made  inseparable,  scabbing  impossible, 
and  strikes  unnecessary." 

"And  why  not  call  it  the  economic  brotherhood 
of  man?"  added  Mrs.  Luzby.  "Unless  Christian 
ethics  are  to  be  vitalized  in  the  industrial  life  of 
mankind,  they  must  be  regarded  a  mere  pick  pocket 's 
accomplice,  to  hold  public  attention  while  the  com- 
mon pocket  is  being  picked. ' ' 

The  conversation  was  here  abruptly  terminated, 
—the  lights  having  been  turned  on  in  full  blaze,— 
while  to  the  accompaniment  of  music  we  marched 
into  the  main  hall,  to  be  received  with  hearty  cheers 


A  Career  of  Forgeries.  81 

by  a  large  party  of  spectators.  The  ceremonies  of 
installation  were  very  brief,  sincere  and  earnest — 
opening  with  an  appropriate  address  of  welcome,  in 
the  course  of  which  our  new  home  was  glowingly  al- 
luded to  as  a  grander  Eden — a  land  of  the  millen- 
num. 

Toward  the  close,  a  tall  gentleman  of  rather 
prepossessing  appearance,  Mr.  Edgar  Blake,  was 
presented  as  a  delegate  of  the  District  Temples,  who 
was  to  officiate  temporarily  as  our  custodian  and 
tutor.  He  briefly  outlined  his  mission  as  intended 
merely  during  the  initial  period  of  our  new  citizen- 
ship, while  receiving  instruction  in  the  customs  and 
ways  of  the  realm,  and  until  we  had  each  been  pro- 
vided with  his  proper  patrimony  as  a  free  citizen  of 
Temploria.  The  patrimony  embraced  the  following 
items : 

A  home  for  each  individual  or  family  group, 
An  adult's  share  of  temple  stock, 
Purse  of  a  hundred  dollars  and  a  hundred  centrets, 
Weekly  allowance  of  twenty  dotfars  while  serving  a  whole  or 
part  apprenticeship  in  any  specialized  occupation. 

The  last  item  represented  the  minimum  allow- 
ance of  any  craft,  and  the  sum  will  buy  as  much  as 
thirty  dollars  would  in  America. 

The.  ceremony  over,  we  were  escorted  to  the 
Grand  Temple.  We  spent  the  entire  afternoon  here, 
visiting  its  various  institutions.  Among  these  was 
a  certain  Zoological  collection  notable  for  the  pecu- 
liar oddity  of  its  specimens,  two  of  which  were  so  un- 
usually strange  I  cannot  refrain  from  mention  of 
their  freakish  relationship. 

You  have  often  heard  of  queer  bed  fellows  in 
the  animal  kingdom — such  for  example  as  the  owl, 
gopher  and  rattlesnake — a  trio  nesting  in  the  same 


82 


The  Making  of  a  Millennium. 


burrow ;  but  I  dare  say,  you  never  before  heard  of  a 
partnership  like  that  holding  together  the  sweat 
fowl  and  the  cuckoo  snake. 

The  sweat  fowl  is  a  bird  of  slender  and  graceful 
form,  a  little  larger  than  an  ordinary  hen.  It  is 
gifted  with  pearly  white  plumage,  covered  with  a 


The  Sweat  Fowl. 


light  sprinkling  of  gold.  This  bird  were  a  paragon 
of  beauty  but  for  its  emaciated  body  and  dejected 
visage — appearing  so  indescribably  sad,  one  might 
readily  imagine  it  an  incarnated  fancy  of  a  Poe  or  a 
Dante. 

The  other  creature — its  mate — was  at  first 
scarcely  noticeable,  resembling  a  piece  of  thick  cord 
twined  around  its  body.  The  apafently  insignificant 


A  Career  of  Forgeries.  83 

coil  however  suddenly  relaxed,  exposing  itself  as  a 
horrid  little  serpent,  the  fierce  malignancy  of  whose 
eyes  belied  her  leering  smile.  This  creature  was 
known  as  the  cuckoo  snake. 

While  gazing  at  this  odd  pair,  our  attention  was 
attracted  to  a  similar  couple  in  another  apartment 


Vain  Pride. 


going  through  a  curious  performance.  Her  snake- 
ship  in  this  instance  was  bloated  nigh  to  bursting, 
and  was  engaged  in  covering  her  prostrate  and 
groaning  mate  with  a  coat  of  thick,  yellowish  saliva. 
Passing  by  later  on  we  witnessed  the  same  bird,  now 
somewhat  revived,  getting  on  its  feet — her  snake- 
ship  once  more  coiled  around  its  body,  as  compla- 
cently as  if  she  had  been  some  natural  organ  or  limb 
grown  there. 


84  The  Making  of  a  Millennium. 

"Of  all  the  queer  things!"  exclaimed  Miss  Os- 
wald. "Why,  I  looked  every  minute  to  see  the  poor 
fowl  gulped  down.  The  feast  has  doubtless  been  de- 
ferred for  a  more  auspicious  appetite. ' ' 

Presently  the  fowl  drew  its  head  up  proudly 
and  began  strutting  across  the  floor  of  its  apart- 
ment, its  eyes  turned  admiringly  upon  the  new  glit- 
ter of  its  plumage.  The  saliva  had  done  its  work; 
it  had  re-animated  the  feathery  garment  as  well  as 
the  physical  vigor  of  the  fowl. 

"You  will  pay  dearly,  my  sweet  bird,"  our  tu- 
tor remarked,  as  if  admonishing  the  bird,  ' '  for  your 
borrowed  shine  and  vigor.  Tomorrow  you  will 
again  be  sweating  blood,  while  your  unnatural  mate 
will  begin  once  more  her  custom  of  daily  absorbing 
it  to  her  body.  From  day  to  day  you  will  degener- 
ate in  strength  and  in  spirit,  as  well  as  in  the  splen- 
dor of  your  plumage,  until  again  prostrated  and  de- 
pendent upon  the  healing  saliva.  Thus  with  each 
successive  relapse  you  will  become  weaker  until 
either  languishing  in  paralysis  or  relieved  by 
death." 

Watching  the  curious  couple  on  another  occa- 
sion we  observed  the  bird  unearth  a  fat  worm  which 
it  was  studiously  eyeing.  The  tid  bit,  however,  was 
no  sooner  exposed  to  view  than  her  snakeship,  with  a 
quick  thrust  of  her  head,  had  it  grasped  and  stowed 
away,  before  the  very  eyes  of  the  bewildered  fowl. 

"Isn't  that  a  shame!"  cried  Miss  Carson,  ob- 
serving the  outcome  of  the  poor  fowl's  industry. 

"This  partnership  is  not  a  very  profitable  one 
for  the  poor  fowl,"  Mr.  Blake  assured  us,  "her 
snakeship  invariably  snatching  every  morsel  in 
sight,  and  requiring  to  be  gorged,  before  she  will 


A  Career  of  Forgeries.  85 

permit  the  bird  to  share  the  least  particle.  Between 
the  theft  of  its  food  and  the  absorption  of  its  blood, 
the  saliva  scarcely  replenishes  a  fourth  part  of  the 
loss, — merely  serving  to  deceive  the  bird  into  sub- 
missive tolerance  of  a  deadly  drainage.  It's  all  a 
one-sided  partnership.  I've  never  been  able  to  fig- 
ure it  out  any  other  way." 

''Look  at  her — "  he  resumed  awhile  later, 
"with  those  deceitful  and  fiery  eyes.  She  is  simply 
holding  the  bird  under  a  hypnotic  spell — the  poor 
deluded  creature  unconsciously  thinking  as  her 
snake  ship  directs." 

"I  should  think,"  Mrs.  Luzby  suggested,  "that 
the  fowl  would  be  seeking  a  divorce  from  so  abom- 
inable a  partner." 

"If  it  would  only  awaken  to  the  truth —  '  our 
tutor  added,  "if  it  wasn't  hypnotized  into  the  idea 
that  the  two  creatures  were  parts  of  one  body — in- 
separable partners.  Partners  indeed!  Would  you 
believe  it,  the  vile  creature  even  mingles  her  eggs 
with  those  of  the  fowl ;  and  the  chick  no  sooner  pokes 
its  tiny  head  out  of  the  shell  than  a  snakelet  coils 
around  its  tiny  body,  to  remain  there  through 
life.  So  from  one  generation  to  the  next,  the  sweat 
fowl's  burden  clings  to  it  like  a  vested  wrong  fast- 
ened upon  the  neck  of  an  outraged  people." 

"Its  remarkable  tenacity  of  adherence,"  re- 
marked Mr.  Oswald, ' '  reminds  me  of  the  way  capital 
in  the  outworld,  hatched  by  the  serpent  of  absten- 
tion, fastens  itself  upon  the  neck  of  industry — in- 
cessantly reiterating  its  long  cherished  delusion  that 
it  is  an  integral  factor  in  industry  entitled  to  a  share 
in  the  product. 


86  The  Making  of  a  Millennium. 

11  Every  move  of  this  serpent  reminds  me  of 
some  attitude  assumed  by  outworld  capital.  Snatch- 
ing all  the  choice  morsels  scratched  up  by  the  fowl  is 
just  the  way  the  capitalist  absorbs  to  his  own  use, 
and  for  his  favorites,  all  the  opportunities  the  work- 
ingman  as  consumer  has  created.  Absorbing  the 
poor  fowl's  blood  is  merely  a  duplicate  of  the  way 
capital  absorbs  to  itself  the  products  of  all  kinds  of 
labor  through  interest,  rents  and  profits.  The  swell- 
ing of  the  serpent's  body  until  ready  to  burst,  and 
the  depletion  of  the  poor  fowl's  flesh  and  vitality 
until  no  longer  able  to  support  the  swollen  body  of 
her  snakeship,  what  do  these  more  resemble  than 
the  way  capital  puffs  itself  into  a  vast  body  of  re- 
dundancy until  industry,  depleted  by  its  abstentions, 
is  no  longer  able 'to  sustain  the  terrible  burden  and 
collapses  in  financial  depression.  These  depressions, 
recur  periodically,  never  ceasing  until  either  a  lower 
vitality  or  permanent  paralysis  has  set  in,  or  else  the 
national  life  has  been  swept  into  the  desert  of  obli- 
vion. Even  the  relief  by  the  application  of  the  yel- 
low saliva  has  its  counterpart  in  the  loans  and  invest- 
ments that  finally  respond  to  returning  animation ; 
and  after  these  depressions  nations  usually 
indulge  in  a  great  deal  of  boasting  of  the  wonderful 
achievements  performed  by  the  reigning  political 
party,  so  much  resembling  the  vain  strut  of  the  de- 
luded fowl  on  the  rejuvenation  of  its  faded  plum- 
age. ' ' 

"An  admirable  comparison,  Mr.  Oswald,"  our 
tutor  approvingly  remarked,  "and  also  a  true  por- 
traiture of  the  false  pretensions  of  capital,  in  its  re- 
lation to  labor.  From  an  entirely  different  view- 
point this  hideous  cuckoo  snake  also  exemplifies  the 


A  Career  of  Forgeries. 


87 


treason  of  your  root-of-evil  dollar — the  dollar  of  the 
abstainer.  This  dollar  is  constantly  deserting  the 
true  orbit  of  money,  which  should  be  in  the  service  of 
production,  to  enter  one  of  pure  acquisition — a  vic- 
ious circle  of  successive  forgeries  as  brazen  in  char- 
acter as  they  are  appalling  in  magnitude  and  conse- 


An  Astonished  Magnate. 

quence.  This  abstainer's  dollar  was  furthermore 
passed  at  par  by  men  whose  services  in  obtaining  it 
had  been  doubtful  pennyworths." 

''That  is  utterly  unimaginable — much  less  be- 
lievable!'' the  former  steel  magnate  exclaimed, 
shocked  at  the  remark  and  violently  shaking  his  gray 
head.  "How  could  such  forgeries  ever  escape  de- 
tection ! ' ' 


88  The  Making  of  a  Millennium. 

"Simply  because  no  one  distinguished  between 
the  labor  of  the  consumer  and  that  of  the  abstain- 
er," responded  our  tutor.  "The  labor  of  the  con- 
sumer was  always  worth  par;  but  that  of  the  ab- 
stainer was  unquestionably  worthless. ' ' 

"Why  should  the  labor  of  the  abstainer  be 
worthless  ?  How  can  you  make  such  an  assertion ! ' ' 
indignantly  exclaimed  the  the  Philadelphian. 

"No  labor  applied  to  the  production  of  articles 
that  are  never,  to  be  used,"  was  the  prompt  re- 
sponse, "can  have  any  economic  value.  Whatever 
the  labor  cost  of  any  article,  its  inability  to  elicit 
buyers  must  deprive  it  of  all  claim  to  value.  The 
abstainer's  product  is  really  a  surplus  commodity, 
without  a  market.  The  mere  fact  that  it  had  been 
successfully  foisted  upon  the  market  after  having 
displaced  consumers  and  appropriated  a  market 
legitimately  belonging  to  others,  would  not  help  to 
qualify  it  other  than  as  a  surplus  product.  To  credit 
it  as  legitimate  were  on  a  par  with  crediting  as  genu- 
ine the  counterfeit  bills  of  a  crook  because  lie  had 
succeeded  in  passing  them  on  others.  The  fact  re- 
mains indisputable  that  the  abstainer  had  never  con- 
tributed the  shadow  of  a  market,  but  had  merely  suc- 
ceeded in  marketing  his  product  after  having,  by 
abstention,  appropriated  that  belonging  exclusively 
to  the  consumer.  He  was  virtually  a  cuckoo, — a  thief 
of  markets.  To  therefore  regard  his  product  in  any 
other  light  than  as  an  unmarketable  surplus  product, 
were  as  far  from  truth  as  to  regard  counterfeit  bills 
once  passed  as  forever  after  genuine. 

"In  order  to  further  illustrate  my  meaning,  let 
us  group  the  abstainers  and  the  consumers  into  two 
separate  bodies.  Among  the  abstainers  the  practice 


A  Career  of  Forgeries.  89 

of  producing  without  consuming  must  result  in 
either  a  deadlock,  for  want  of  demand  for  products, 
or  else  an  overproduction,  netting  merely  an  un- 
marketable surplus;  but  in  neither  case  was  there 
created  the  first  iota  of  value.  What  value  could 
their  products  have,  piled  up  to  the  skies,  without  a 
user?  The  consumer,  on  the  other  hand,  who  uses 
products  as  fast  as  produced,  would  not  be  deterred 
from  producing  without  cessation  and  without  the 
slightest  depreciation  from  the  par  value, — the  col- 
lective producers  drawing  as  their  collective  wage 
the  total  product. ' ' 

"How  comes  it,"  asked  Mrs.  Luzby,  "that  out- 
world  economists  should  not  have  detected  so  gross 
a  flaw  in  the  system?" 

"That  was  due,"  replied  Mr.  Blake,  "to  their 
strong  leaning  to  the  existing  order  of  society  in 
preference  to  God's  order — an  inherent  blindness 
and  weakness  of  character  similar  to  that  which  has 
largely  in  all  ages  afflicted  the  political  and  ecclesias- 
tical leaders  of  men, — making  it  necessary  for  pro- 
gressive thought  to  emanate  out  side  of  their  ranks, 
and  imposing  a  species  of  exile,  as  well  as  other 
martyrdoms,  upon  all  who  dared  to  depart  from 
orthodox  doctrine.  Instead  of  probing  for  its  deep- 
er truths,  proud  authority  left  the  social  fabric  to 
rest  upon  the  false  prop  of  fear-born  assent  and 
banished  disputation.  Beginning  with  an  investiga- 
tion of  the  laws  governing  the  wealth  of  nations,  in 
which  the  welfare  of  the  individual  as  such  was 
ignored,  they  have  remained  almost  altogether  in 
the  ruts  formed  by  this  first  important  vehicle. 
Though  great  stress  had  been  laid  upon  the  vast  eco- 
nomy effected  through  what  is  known  as  division  or 


90  The  Making  of  a  Millennium. 

specialization  of  labor,  scarcely  any  further  atten- 
tion was  given  to  this  fundamental  basis  of  the  in- 
dustrial process — earning  by  its  consequent  im- 
potence the  name  of  'dismal  science,'  and  often  be- 
ing eschewed  as  a  purely  sordid  pursuit.  It  seemed 
as  if  the  more  they  penetrated  its  labyrinthian 
depths  the  more  confusion  they  drew  forth — one 
endless  profusion  of  perplexed  wisdom  that  melted 
like  wax  in  the  rival  flames  of  their  own  factional 
reason.  They  spun  beautiful  webs  of  microscopic 
thread  that  glittered  to  the  untutored  eye.  but  which 
were  no  sooner  exposed  to  the  test  of  experience 
than  their  shadowy  threads  gave  way  and  the  fabric 
of  hope  on  which  labor's  Prometheus  had  gazed, 
vanished  in  darkness  and  new-born  despair. ' ' 

"The  division  of  labor,  I  imagine,"  remarked 
Mrs.  Luzby,  "lay  at  the  very  threshold  of  the  indus- 
trial science;  and  scornfully  leaping  over  it,  they 
plunged  into  the  midst  of  inextricable  confusion." 

"The  division  of  labor,"  responded  the  Tem- 
plorian,  "is  a  vast  co-operation  in. which  millions 
and  millions  participate — each  operating  separately, 
whether  as  producer  or  as  consumer.  Their  collec- 
tive patronage  naturally  limits  the  amount  of  work 
to  be  dispensed;  and  for  this  reason  no  one  should 
be  permitted  to  draw  on  the  work  except  in  response 
to  the  amount  of  opportunity  his  consuming  ha's 
created.  To  overdraw  is  nothing  less  than  trespass- 
ing upon  the  opportunities  belonging  to  others  and 
needful  to  them  in  bargaining  the  terms  of  their  em- 
ployment. ' ' 

1 '  I  wonder  if  any  credit  whatever  is  due  the  ab- 
stainer for  his  labor,"  exclaimed  the  Philadelphian, 
in  a  sarcastic  vein. 


,      A  Career  of  Forgeries.  91 

"At  the  most,"  responded  our  tutor,  "he  couid 
claim  no  more  for  his  dollars  than  his  efforts  could 
have  produced  with  himself  as  his  sole  market.  Of 
what  value  were  his  skill,  as  a  mechanic  or  as  a  pro- 
fessional man,  with  himself  alone  to  serve  I  It  were 
at  the  best  worth  mere  pennyworths  on  the  dollar  of 
ordinary  value.  The  difference,  the  remaining 
ninety-nine  cents,  is  the  value  of  the  market,  or  in 
other  words,  the  value  of  the  privilege  of  co-opera- 
tion it  represents.  The  abstainer,  contributing  no 
element  to  the  power  of  co-operation,  and  moreover 
operating  in  direct  antagonism  to  the  harmony  of  its 
mechanism,  is  surely  not  entitled  to  any  of  its  bene- 
fits. He  is  industrially  an  anarchist  and  counter- 
feiter, on  a  colossal  scale — an  economic  criminal 
whom  no  orderly  society  would  countenance. 

"Yet  this  forgery  of  doubtful  pennyworths  into 
par  dollars  is  only  his  initial  step  in  a  continuous 
career  of  diabolical  forgeries ! ' ' 

"Who  would  have  believed  so  monstrous  a  sys- 
tem of  forgery  could  have  been  possible  among  in- 
telligent beings ! ' '  Mrs.  Luzby  exclaimed,  her  face  a 
picture  of  horror. 

"The  truth  in  this  instance  is  really  stranger 
than  fiction, ' '  Mr.  Blake  resumed. ' '  What  I  have  been 
telling  you  is  merely  the  first  act  in  its  drama  of 
fraud.  Its  second  act  was  no  less  unique.  By  the 
very  act  of  hoarding  the  holder  forged  his  face-value 
dollars  from  the  perishable  commodities  of  com- 
merce subject  to  corrosion  and  decay,  which  they 
represented  and  merely  substituted,  into  the  full  en- 
during power  of  its  imperturable  face.  It  arrogated 
to  itself  a  value  in  storage  capacity  way  beyond  the 
commodities  it  stood  for,  and  thereby  foisted  on  the 


92  The  Making  of  a  Millennium. 

consumer  the  costs  of  storage  and  wear.  In  addition 
to  imposing  on  the  consumer  the  burden  of  paying 
for  the  preservation  of  the  capitalist's  principal, 
its  exemption  from  this  tax  thus  became  a  stepping 
stone  to  the  greatest  and  most  colossal  of  all  the  for- 
geries chargeable  to  the  abstainer's  dollars — form- 
ing the  third  act  in  the  remarkable  drama  of  value 
forgeries : 

"Owing  to  this  exemption  from  the  storage 
costs  and  wear  involved  in  the  preservation  of  other 
forms  of  legitimate  wealth,  our  immutable  face- 
'  value  dollar  was  enabled  to  defy  with  impunity  the 
demands  of  commerce,  playing  hooky  in  his  hoard- 
ing hole  as  -long  as  he  pleased,  or  until  bribed  to  re- 
turn to  the  channels  of  commerce  by  the  assurance 
of  profits, — invariably  withdrawing  in  the  absence 
of  these  inducements.  Compounding  thereafter  all 
these  repeated  drafts  of  usury  and  profits,  it  kept  on 
in  an  everlasting  series  of  these  value  forgeries — 
forging  its  own  forgeries  into  an  ever-expanding 
series  and  piling  Ossa  upon  Pelion  until  it  had  plant- 
ed a  vast  tumor  of  redundant  and  superfluous  capital 
upon  the  back  of  industry,  coagulating  its  blood  with 
hoarding  and  again  through  profits  sapping  its 
every  artery  and  devouring  its  substance. 

"The  abstainer's  dollar  was  a  robber  from  the 
start,  whether  in  the  role  of  counterfeit  surplus  pro- 
duct; whether  secluded  as  an  idler  in  his  hoarding 
den ;  exempted  from  the  tax  of  wear  and  storage,  or 
out  upon  his  errands  of  extortion — in  which  he 
stifled  commerce  till  it  yielded  his  profits — forming 
one  endless  series  of  successive  forgeries.  Instead 
of  serving  as  a  respectable  working  implement,  loyal 
to  the  obligation  of  reciprocal  production  and  con- 


A  Career  of  Forgeries.  93 

suming,  this  tool  of  trade  had  degenerated  into  a 
gross  counterfeit, — an  instrument  of  blackmail  and 
a  garroter  of  industry.  Could  a  greater  treason  to 
industry  be  imagined  than  the  acts  of  this  fickle 
dollar?  Here  was  a  dollar  privileged  to  repudiate 
the  products  its  owner  had  created,  converting  its 
credit  for  these  worthless  surplus  products  into 
loans  at  par  to  displaced  consumers  who  had  been 
denied  the  right  to  redeem  with  their  services  .the 
dollars  spent.  These  dollars  received  from  the  con- 
sumer were  evidently  not  subject  to  redemption; 
they  were  irredeemable  and  could  be  withheld  by 
the  abstainer  and  converted  into  capital  without 
limit, — particularly  into  deadly  hoards  of  currency. 
.  Here  was  indeed  an  irredeemable  currency  and 
an  unbridled  mintage  whose  perennial  flow  of  cap- 
ital overran  the  fields  of  commerce  both  in  advance 
and  in  the  wake  of  the  usual  currency  expansions, 
like  one  of  those  terrible  genii  of  the  Arabian  Nights 
— an  uncorked  monster  utterly  dwarfing  and  im- 
poverishing industry  by  its  vast  redundancy,  though 
in  the  midst  of  its  money  carnivals. ' ' 

"And  in  the  face  of  all  this  utter  failure  of  its 
redemption,"  Mr.  Oswald  followed,  "the  tardy 
loans  and  investments, — representing  money  due  in 
redemption  of  commodities  produced,  but  withheld 
altogether  from  expenditure  except  by  investment 
after  profits  were  assured — these  long  overdue 
hoards  of  fugitive  wealth,  diverted  to  the  obstruc- 
tion and  plunder  of  industry, — were  being  extolled 
by  the  apologists  of  capital  as  ' advances'  made  'in 
the  furtherance  of  industry,'  and  were  moreover 
humorously  alluded  to  as  'productive  consuming.' 
Their  explanation  was  a  capital  joke,  worthy  of  Lu- 


94  The  Making  of  a  Millennium. 

cifer.  I  can  hear  his  fire-lit  vaults  still  ringing  with 
the  echoes  of  laughter  provoked  by  this  splendid  out- 
world  witticism!" 

1 '  Traced  to  its  source, ' '  added  the  astute  Doctor 
Remington,  "the  whole  body  of  capital  is  nothing 
but  a  few  tainted  pennyworths  of  surplus  product 
forged  by  the  abstainer  into  par,  perpetuated  by 
fraud  at  public  expense  and  then  inflated  by  the  com- 
pounding of  feloniously-extracted  usuries  until  its 
original  value, — no  bigger  than  a  flea's  shadow, — 
has  swelled  into  a  mountain  of  gold  planted  upon,  the 
back  of  prostrate  industry. ' ' 

"What  else  is  this  face-value  abstainer's  dol- 
lar," exclaimed  Mr.  Oswald,  "but  the  leering,  lying 
face  of  another  cuckoo  snake  out  of  whose  lies  eman- 
ate the  coils  and  coils  of  capital  that  envelop  the 
sweat  fowl  of  industry?  Never  will  these  deadly 
coils  release  their  grip  until  the  redemption  of  pro- 
ducts is  made  compulsory — until  the  act  of  redemp- 
tion is  imposed  upon  money  through  a  medium  such 
as  centry — a  badge  of  industrial  citizenship  by  which 
the  consumer  shall  be  distinguished,  and  the  ab- 
stainer repelled.  The  counterfeit  dollar,  must  be 
thrown  out ;  and  every  dollar  traveling  the  highways 
of  industry  must  faithfully  serve  the  unceasing  ro- 
tation of  consuming  and  producing.  There  must  be 
no  breaks  in  the  flow  of  trade;  neither  should  its 
highways  become  a  robbers'  causeway.  The  prime 
function  of  money  is  to  circulate  without  deviation — 
to  connect  services  with  the  wants  demanding  them. 
It  must  not  only  record  efforts  but  test  their  fitness 
and  responsiveness  to  actual  wants;  for  efforts  not 
adapted  to  or  responsive  to  actual  wants  are  as 
valueless  as  mere  wants  unaccompanied  with  efforts 
to  satisfy  them. ' ' 


A  Career  of  Forgeries.  95 

; '  I  have  always  regarded  the  outworld  as  a  lost 
paradise,"  remarked  Miss  Oswald,  "but  never  did  I 
imagine  it  could  be  so  outrageously  scandalous. 
Never  did  I  conceive  the  possibility  of  so  colossal- 
a  carnival  of  frauds  and  forgeries." 

"Just  think  of  it!"  exclaimed  Doctor  Beming- 
ton.  ' '  That  we  should  all  these  years  have  been  rec- 
onciled to  such  evils,  and  so  long  have  lived  in  self- 
satisfied  delusion.  What  infamy  this  license  of  ab- 
stinence— this  iniquitous  power — this  serpent  of  de- 
ception— pretending  to  serve  trade,  while  robber- 
like  holding  consumer  and  producer  apart,  allowed 
a  mere  partial  union,  and  that  solely  as  slaves, 
wearing  the  short-wage  shackles.  Oh  shame !  shame ! 
That  god 's  image  should  be  so  trodden  in  the  dust- 
debased,  corrupted,  degraded!  What  an  adder's 
tooth  this  abstinence!  Death  in  the  guise  of  Life! 
Shame  in  the  guise  of  Honor!  Its  gifts  venom,  its 
charity  corruption!  How  long  is  this  cuckoo  snake 
to  rule  the  outworld  sweat  fowl  ?  How  long,  ere  the 
blind  creature  open  its  eyes,  and  awaken  to  the 
truth?  How  long  ere  it  shake  off  this  tyrant,  and 
go  free  I  When,  Oh  when  is  this  day  of  resurrection 
to  arrive — the  beginning  of  the  outworld  millen- 
nium I ' ' 


CHAPTER  VII. 

Spectacular  Coloria. 

"Thou  bright  Futurity,  whose  prospect  beams, 

In  dawning  radiance  on  our  daylight  dreams; 

Whose  lambent  meteors  and  ethereal  forms, 

Gild  the  dark  clouds,  and  glitter  through  the  storms; 

On  thy  broad  canvas  fancy  loves  to  trace 

Her  brilliant  Iris,  drest  in  vivid  grace; 

Paints  fair  creatures  in  celestial  dyes, 

Tints  of  the  morn  and  blushes  of  the  skies; 

And  bids  her  scenes  perfection's  robes  assume, 

The  mingling  flush  of  light,  and  life,  and  bloom." 

— Hemans. 

Twenty  dollars  a  week  in  Temploria  was  not 
quite  as  attractive  to  Mr.  Carson  as  had  been  his 
princely  outworld  income.  The  former  steel  magnate 
was  less  conspicuous  here ;  he  received  less  flattering 
attentions ;  and  he  also  lacked  the  hosts  of  sycophants 
whose  manifold  ways  of  stooping  make  the  smallest 
man  feel  a  veritable  giant.  The  barbaric  license  of 
his  past  environment  was  here  painfully  absent — a 
condition  to  which  he  seemed  unable  to  become  rec- 
onciled. There  was  something  in  fact  in  the  pre- 
vailing atmosphere  of  independence  that  grated 
harshly  upon  his  soul. 

Mr.  Carson  was  also  arriving  at  an  age  when, 
considered  either  mentally  or  physically,  he  was 
falling  into  the  sere  of  decrepitude.  His  swelling 
ego  now  called  for  as  many  attentions  as  the  swell- 
ing of  his  gouty  limb, — both  mind  and  body  craving 
artificial  props.  It  thus  happened  to  be  an  unfor- 
tunate period  of  his  career  for  turning  over  a  new 
leaf — just  at  the  time  his  joints  were  beginning  to 


Spectacular  Coloria.  97 

twitch,  his  muscles  to  relax,  his  face  to  assume  an 
unethereal  blue,  his  eyes  to  blear  and  his  nose  to 
take  on  an  ungraceful  prominence. 

With  money  in  his  purse  all  these  symptoms  of 
degeneracy  would  have  remained  invisible,  their  out- 
cries hushed  in  the  cheer  of  mingling  bowl  and  song ; 
but  without  this  salve  of  deferment — temporary 
leveler  of  Nature's  roughest  lines — they  glared  at 
him  with  all  the  malignancy  of  fiends.  Poor  fellow! 
Temploria,  with  all  her  good  intentions,  was  to  him 
more  prison  than  paradise. 

Quite  possibly  his  gay  daughter,  Miss  Lydia, 
might  have  been  another  of  those  whose  apprecia- 
tion of  duty  went  no  further  than  the  outworld  cus- 
tom of  returning  thanks  for  patronage  and  there- 
with closing  the  account.  At  any  rate,  this  young 
woman  seemed  now  to  have  quite  forgotten  there 
was  such  a  thing  as  filial  obligation.  Had  she  not 
been  trained  to  receive  bounties  from  parental  hands 
as  a  mere  matter  of  course ;  and  coming  from  other 
sources,  they  had  been  mere  baits,  anticipating  pat- 
ronage. The  idea  of  obligation  had  not  yet  entered 
her  head. 

It  was  no  wonder  therefore,  that  when  a  party 
of  Falconers,  along  with  the  Manoahs,  started  out 
one  fine  morning  for  a  stroll  through  Coloria  park- 
way the  pretty  Miss  Lydia  allowed  her  father  to  re- 
main alone, — bound  to  his  chair  with  gout — while  she 
thoughtlessly  joined  the  merrymakers. 

In  the  party  was  the  young  socialist,  Mark  Os- 
wald, at  whose  handsome  countenance  she  frequent- 
ly cast  admiring  glances,  but  who  in  turn  seemed  to 
be  utterly  oblivious  of  the  fact, — his  mind  complete- 


98  The  Making  of  a  Millennium. 

ly  absorbed  in  the  marvelous  coloring  of  the  foliage 
and  vegetation  for  which  Coloria  is  famed. 

Glancing  up  the  parkway  the  view  presented  a 
perfect  realm  of  enchantment — a  scenic  spectacle 
beggaring  description, — in  fact,  one  of  the  triumphs 
of  Templorian  horticulture. 

The  remarkable  appearance  of  this  avenue  rep- 
resented an  entire  century  of  successive  experiments 
and  studies,  culminating  in  the  acquirement  of  a 
power  to  impart  to  their  vegetation  any  desirable 
color  or  shade.  Through  this  means  the  landscape 
gardener  has  here  at  his  command  a  range  and  per- 
fection of  coloring  simply  unimaginable.  No  paint- 
er's palette  could  rival  the  brilliance  attainable,  or 
the  daintiness  of  the  tints  imparted  to  the  natural 
canvas  of  lawn  and  bough. 

What  masses  of  solid  gorgeousness  overhung 
the  broad  walks  and  winding  pathways!  What 
charming  vistas  of  color  splendor  carpeted  the 
earth — here  in  scarlet  banks  like  vast  geranium  beds, 
there  in  framed  mossaics  edged  with  trimmings  as 
delicate  and  fanciful  as  silk  embroideries ! 

.  Golden  leaves,  silver  leaves,  leaves  of  pearl  and 
ruby  and  of  sapphire,  fluttered  upon  the  arching  tree 
tops;  endless  lengths  of  beautifully  tinted  stream- 
ers interlaced  the  walks,  twining  gracefully  around 
the  trunks  of  giant  trees  and  embracing  in  the  course 
of  their  meanderings  all  the  beautiful  monuments 
and  carved  figures  ornamenting  the  grounds. 

From  the  top  of  a  knoll  all  draped  in  crimson 
arose  an  emerald  fountain — its  tall  crest  bulging 
into  a  wide  circle  and  then  bursting  into  a  million 
glittering  jewels,  that -tinkled  sweetly  as  they  pat- 
tered into  the  liquid  emerald  of  the  pool  beneath. 


Spectacular  Coloria.  99 

There  were  also  fountains  that  shot  up  ruby  spires 
and  showered  a  fire-flecked  spray ;  others  there  were 
with  treble  streams,  twining  in  their  vertical  ascent 
until  at  a  great  height  they  broadened  into  a  wide- 
spread canopy  of  vapory  sheen,  of  a  thousand  hues 
and  tints,  on  which  the  blazing  sun  glimmered  in  one 
fantastic  symphony  of  light. 

Nowhere  else  could  have  been  seen  such  a  be- 
wildering variety  of  color,  sparkle  and  symmetry, 
or  such  a  medley  of  fantastic  figures  and  designs — 
all  blending  into  one  grand  panorama  of  attractive- 
ness. 

The  way  was  everywhere  peopled  with  life  and 
gaiety — parties  of  young  and  old,  in  every  variety 
of  tasteful  and  fanciful  attire,  engaging  in  healthful 
exercise  and  holiday  pursuits;  and  every  breeze 
bore  snatches  of  gay  melody,  blending  harmoniously 
with  the  laughter  of  the  happy  throng. 

Several  hours  were  passed  in  this  enchanting 
paradise  of  color;  and  when  we  withdrew,  turning 
into  a  narrow  cross  lane,  it  seemed  as  if  suddenly  en- 
tering another  world. 

We  were  now  facing  rural  scenes  amid  the  wav- 
ing fields  and  smiling  orchards  of  one  of  the  great 
farmways.  Green  patches  of  vegetation,  flocks  of 
noisy  fowl,  great  storehouses  and  mammoth  vehicles 
and  implements,  were  everywhere  in  evidence. 
Such  abundance,  such  magnificent  specimens  of 
mouth-watering  fruit!  At  each  successive  outburst 
of  our  admiration  Robert  Manoah  would  respond 
with  a  shrug  of  his  shoulders»and  the  remark :  ' '  Only 
science  plus  time ! ' ' 

"Very  true,"  responded  Doctor  Remington, 
"but  none  the  less  creditable;  without  the  aid  of  sup- 


100  The  Making  of  a  Millennium. 

plementary  Nature  from  the  human  brain  your  crab 
apple  would  to  this  day  have  remained  a  sour  and 
bitter  snip. ' ' 

"That's  what  we  call  grafting  from  the  tree  of 
knowledge,"  the  young  Templorian  facetiously  re- 
plied. * l  Our  system  of  specialized  farming  is  indeed 
a  very  profitable  graft  upon  Nature. ' ' 

1  i  This  specialization  of  occupations  also  entered 
into  the  household,  I  imagine,  did  it  not?"  in- 
quired Miss  Oswald. 

"Oh  yes,  and  it  brought  its  members  into  closer 
touch  with  the  world,"  Mrs.  Manoah  responded.  "It 
banded  the  tillers  of  the  soil  into  village  temples  sim- 
ilar to  those  of  the  cities, — connecting  them  by  rail 
with  all  parts  of  Temploria.  It  completely  trans- 
formed the  home,  bringing  to  it,  in  addition  to  su- 
perior service,  the  facilities  of  education,  society, 
travel,  refinement,  independence — everything  in  fact 
that  outworld  wealth  could  at  its  best  indulge;  and 
it  also  supplied  a  degree  of  fellowship  that  was  not 
purchasable  with  wealth." 

In  these  farm  temples  every  man  is  a  specialist 
in  some  distinct  branch  of  the  farming  industry.  The 
lands  are  everywhere  brought  up  to  the  highest  ca- 
pacity for  production,  artificially  reinforced  with 
every  missing  ingredient;  and  no  efforts  were 
spared  in  the  treatment  accorded  to  flocks  and  herds, 
whose  feeding  and  housing  received  the  closest  study 
and  attention.  Every  implement  also, — and  the 
number  of  these  was  legion, — had  its  specialist  oper- 
atives ;  and  even  the  transporting  of  the  varied  pro- 
ducts and  materials  used,  was  in  the  hands  of  men 
especially  skilled  for  the  work.  None  of  the  work  is 
done  by  beasts  of  burden, — Nature  having  provided 


Spectacular  Coloria.  101 

forces  more  economic  by  far,  and  liberating  a  vast 
acreage  previously  needed  to  support  the  horse  and 
ox,  for  more  direct  service  to  man. 

"Have  any  of  you  visited  the  temple  nursery?" 
asked  Captain  Clark  while  we  were  taking  a  rest  in 
one  of  the  shady  bowers  on  our  return  to  Pleasant 
parkway.  "I  had  a  great  time  there  yesterday 
watching  the  little  tots.  It  was  a  sight  to  observe 
the  intense  eagerness  written  on  their  faces.  What 
do  you  think  of  a  tiny  stage — a  sort  of  fairy  world 
peopled  with  all  sorts  of  grotesque  characters,  com- 
ing and  going,  some  ship  shape  and  some  groggy. 
They  were  good  and  bad ;  and  they  made  their  grim- 
aces and  little  speeches,  sang,  danced,  cut  all  sorts  of 
capers — now  bursting  into  lusty  laughter  and  again 
sobbing  as  if  their  hearts  were  to  break.  There  were 
frolicksome  dwarfs,  elves,  brownies,  fairies,  and 
stupid  beasts.  The  jabber  of  their  voices,  which 
would  have  left  Punch  and  Judy  in  the  shade,  had  all 
been  inspired  through  an  automatic  mechanical  ven- 
triloquist concealed  behind  a  curtain.  I  was  more 
tickled  with  the  exhibition  perhaps  than  any  of  the 
youngsters.  A  single  performance  in  the  slowly 
darkening  room,  and  a  soft  lullaby  at  the  close,  lands 
every  blessed  tot  in  dreamland. ' ' 

"  Visiting  the  Grand  Temple  bazaar  yester- 
day," Mrs.  Luzby  remarked,  "I  was  simply  astound- 
ed at  the  speed  with  which  I  could  do  my  shopping. 
Almost  everything  is  sold  from  samples  or  cata- 
logues, and  a  few  steps  cover  so  much  ground! 
There  is  no  rush,  no  clatter,  no  confusion,  no  long 
waiting;  and  apart  from  placing  the  samples  before 
you  very  little  of  the  clerk's  time  is  required.  The 
card  going  with  each  sample  tells  you  all  about  it 


102  The  Making  of  a  Millennium. 

and  supplies  far  more  complete  and  reliable  infor- 
mation than  the  average  out  wo  rid  clerk  is  able  to 
give,  were  he  so  disposed.  All  you  do  after  each  se- 
lection is  to  have  it  entered  by  number  on  your  or- 
der card  and  proceed.  The  stand  of  each  clerk  has 
its  number,  and  a  printed  store  guide  handed  you  on 
entering  helps  you  to  arrange  the  order  of  your  pur- 
chases. They  deliver  goods  out  of  stock  at  an  ad- 
vance of  five  per  cent.  This  is  due  to  the  cost  of 
storage  and  sales  risks  otherwise  assumed,  and  it 
forms  another  reason,  apart  from  the  fact  that  cen- 
try  is  given  for  advance  payments,  why  people  order 
things  in 'advance,  and  very  far  in  advance  at  that. 
I  can  see  now  how  ridiculous  it  is  doing  so  much  of 
our  buying  in  the  outworld  from  hand  to  mouth  and 
depending  so  much  upon  credit.  How  many  of  our 
wants  are  there  but  can  be  foreseen  months  and 
years  ahead.  Most  of  them  are  continuous,  year  in 
and  year  out,  and  there  is  no  reason  for  making  their 
supply  depend  upon  such  fickle  purchasing.  Of 
course  we  have  to  pay  and  pay  dearly  for  such  slov- 
enly business  methods!  With  a  vast  body  of  pre- 
paid orders  in  all  lines  accumulated  far  in  advance, 
nobody  must  ever  be  out  of  work  here  and  no  one 
must  submit  to  tyranny  as  to  the  number  of  hours  he 
must  work.  A  poor  manager  it  would  be  who  couldn't 
accommodate  his"  help  so  that  they  could  determine 
the  hours  they  would  work ;  and  a  smart  manager  it 
would  be  who  could  dictate  to  the  man  equipped  with 
centry. ' ' 

"If  there  is  one  thing  I  am  thankful  for,"  re- 
marked Miss  Oswald,  "  it  is  the  absence  here  of  those 
myriads  of  corner  grocers  with  their  petty  stocks 
of  staled  goods,  done  up  in  handsomely  labeled  pack- 


Spectacular  Coloria.  103 

ages  which  were  usually  more  costly  than  the  con- 
tents. I'm  glad  to  note  also  that  most  foodstuffs 
are  brought  to  us  in  bulk,  and  direct  either  from  the 
farm  or  the  laboratory." 

''Nothing  pleases  me  more,"  added  Mrs.  Luzby, 
' '  than  the  fact  that  garment  sewing  and  a  great  va- 
riety of  other  light  labor  is  performed  in  the  home 
temples  which  are  provided  with  ladies'  working 
parlors.  That  is  due  to  the  fact  that  there  are  no 
congested  districts  and  no  labor  displacement 
through  which  a  congested  population  could  be  hired 
at  abnormally  low  figures." 

•"Will  you  inform  me,  Mrs.  Manoah,"  asked 
Doctor  Remington,  "what  has  become  of  the  ser- 
vant girl  under  Centrism  ? ' ' 

"When  Centrism  began  to  raise  wages,"  my 
hostess  replied,  "it  provided  such  assurances  of 
ample  and  stable  income  to  young  men  that  few 
longer  hesitated  in  making  proposals  for  matrimony. 
So  wide  spread  was  the  epidemic  of  matrimony  fol- 
lowing, that  few  marriageable  girls  remained  single. 
The  demand  for  servants  was  enhanced,  and  the  sup- 
ply lowered  to  such  an  extent  that  the  few  remaining 
available  had  to  be  bribed  with  salaries  such  as  only 
millionaires  could  afford. 

"This  exodous  of  the  servant  girl  into  the 
Canan  of  matrimony  left  a  void  in  so  many  house- 
holds as  to  cause  a  profound  impression.  It  taught 
the  lesson  that  isolated  housekeeping  was  a  delusion 
—a  sham  completely  exposed  as  soon  as  the  burden 
of  its  extravagances  could  no  longer  be  shifted  upon 
other  shoulders.  The  exodous  of  the  servant  girl 
thus  became  also  the  genesis  of  the  co-operative 
home,  out  of  which  the  temple  ultimately  evolved. 


104  The  Making  of  a  Millennium. 

All  branches  of  housework  became  thereafter  spe- 
cialized, and  its  standards  in  all  branches  were  ma- 
terially improved.  The  lady  of  the  house  was  there- 
by enabled  in  a  few  hours  to  perform  her  share  of  all 
the  laborious  duties ;  was  well  paid  for  it,  and  had  a 
good  balance -of  time  left  for  self -development.  The 
working  woman  became  the  lady,  and  the  only  lady. 
True  merit  was  respected  as  never  before.  Authority 
was  revered,  but  not  the  sham  authority  of  surrep- 
titiously acquired  power. ' ' 

"Yes,  and  our  puddings  are  no  longer  spoiled 
by  too  many  cooks,"  added  her  husband.  "The  day 
of  a  separate  cook  for  every  household,  thanks  to 
templism,  is  past.  Without  the  least  disparagement 
of  the  sex,  we  now  see  how  foolish  it  was  to  imagine 
so  exalted  an  art  as  cooking  could  be  mastered  by 
every  woman.  It  might  as  well  have  been  assumed 
that  every  woman  should  become  a  musician,  a 
painter,  a  physician  or  a  lawyer.  The  feeding  of  the 
human  body  with  hygienic  and  palatable  nutrition — 
an  everyday  process — is  now  regarded  as  of  equal  if 
not  more  importance  in  keeping  the  body  in  health 
than  medical  treatment  after  maladies  have  set  in. 
Whatever  profession  or  art  everybody  assumes,  you 
may  rely  on  it,  will  soon  forfeit  common  respect.  Spe- 
cialization fits  each  person  to  his  place  and  puts  in 
every  place  the  most  capable  of  the  kind;  and  the 
process  of  constant  fitting  tends  to  constantly  ele- 
vate its  standards.  It  has  put  life  into  our  homes 
and  rescued  them  from  the  stagnation  that  is  ever 
a  breeder  of  sin. ' ' 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

Prior  to  Centrism. 

• 

"Yet  I  doubt  not  thro'  the  ages  one  increasing  purpose  runs, 
And  the  thoughts  of  men  are  widened  with  the  process  of  the 
suns." — Tennyson. 

"Templorian  history  begins  with  the  fifteenth 
century,"  said  Miss  Oswald  in  the  course  of  one  of 
our  Falconer  class  recitations.  "The  country  was 
first  settled  by  the  Dutch  at  a  place  where  Bed  Cross 
now  stands.  All  its  adult  male  population  had  been 
ruthlessly  slaughtered  by  a  band  of  British  bucca- 
neers while  in  a  state  of  stupefaction  after  a  holiday 
carousal.  The  pirates  thereupon  hoisted  their  black 
flag,  whose  bloodstained  s&ill  and  cross  bones  gave 
rise  to  the  name,  'Red  Cross.'  " 

' '  What  kind  of  a  life  did  the  pirates  lead  1 ' '  our 
instructor  now  asked. 

' ;  They  became  polygamous,  each  taking  to  him- 
self a  number  of  the  Dutch  widows,  and  adopting 
the  children  together  with  the  cattle  and  sheep.  After 
that  they  became  gentlemen  of  leisure,  depending 
upon  the  women  and  children  for  all  the  onerous 
work. ' ' 

"Very  good,  Miss  Oswald;  you  may  be  seated. 
Now  Mr.  Rusk,  will  you  explain  how  they  were  able 
to  maintain  order  in  a  society  composed  of  such  tur- 
bulent and  unruly  characters?" 

"The  new  proprietors  began  recklessly,"  I  an- 
swered, "abandoning  themselves  to  their  bestial 
appetites;  they  had  no  thought  of  the  morrow,  and 


106  The  Making  of  a  Millennium. 

were  in  the  habit  also  of  foraging  upon  one  anoth- 
er's supplies  to  an  extent  destroying  all  incentive  to 
produce  beyond  the  requirements  of  a  hand  to 
mouth  living.  In  the  simplicity  of  their  untutored 
minds  one  form  of  acquisition  seemed  as  good  as  an- 
other. Their  chief,  however,  old  Jack  Horn,  after 
whom  the 'land  had  been  named  Jack's  Land, — after- 
wards spelled  J-a-x-1-a-n-d — was  the  first  to  recog- 
nize their  error.  A  shrinking  deficit  in  his  revenues 
had  set  him  to  thinking ;  and  the  truth  finally  dawned 
upon  him  that  unbridled  acquisition,  whether  as  a 
wealth  or  a  revenue  producer,  was  a  dead  failure. 
They  must  hereafter  distinguish  between  acquisi- 
tion by  theft  and  that  founded  upon  labor  or  service. 
Otherwise  to  produce  more  than  one  could  immedi- 
ately use  would  merely  invite  thieves  to  come  in  the 
night  and  possibly  take  the  owner's  life  as  well  as 
his  goods.  As  it  was,  the  owner  was  obliged  to  de- 
fend his  little  wealth  against  all  comers,  and  this  re- 
quirement converted  ownership  into  a  virtual  pen- 
alty,— as  if  it  had  been  a  crime.  This  state  of  affairs 
would  not  do.  The  force  of  the  community  must  be 
directed  against  the  thief  and  not  against  the  pro- 
ducer. 

"Old  Jack  had  in  his  day  overcome  many  a 
stubborn  obstacle,  and  was  not  to  be  balked  in  the 
present  emergency.  Calling  to  himself  a  few  burly 
followers  he  instituted  a  'law  and  order'  league. 
Then  in  lieu  of  written  code  he  had  one  thief  exe- 
cuted and  severed  the  right  ear  from  another — a 
form  of  code  his  followers  were  not  slow  to  interpret. 
The  code  worked  like  a  charm,  the  deadlock  of  in- 
security coming  to  an  end  and  habits  of  thrift  and  in- 
dustry becoming  more  firmly  rooted  with  the  en- 


Prior  to  Centrism.  107 

hanced  security  of  possession.  As  anticipated, 
Jack's  income  was  also  materially  enhanced  with  the 
rising  tide  of  prosperity." 

"Now  Miss  Carson,  will  you  be  kind  enough," 
requested  our  tutor,  ' '  to  tell  us  how  Jaxland  became 
separated  from  the  outworld?" 

"On  the  night  of  January  21,  in  the  year  1497," 
was  the  reply,  "an  earthquake  swayed  the  island 
like  the  rocking  of  a  huge  cradle.  It  worked  fearful 


In  Lieu  of  Written  Code. 

havoc.  Several  severe  shocks  followed  and  were 
succeeded  by  a  strange  paleness  of  the  skies  at  the 
horizon's  edge.  The  next  morning  a  vast  barrier 
surrounded  the  island, — to  all  appearances  a  great 
wall  of  ice  cliffs,  but  in  reality  a  huge  belt  of  lustrous 
and  soporific  gas  which  was  deadly  if  too  long  in- 
haled. The  theory  is  that  this  gas  escapes  from  fis- 
sures in  the  rocky  bed  underlying  the  sea  at  varying 
distances  from  the  coast  line.  The  fact  however  re- 
mains, whatever  the  source  of  this  gas  may  be,  that 
nobody  has  thus  far  succeeded  in  crossing  the  fatal 


108  The  Making  of  a  Millennium. 

barrier  except  shipwrecked  voyagers.  It  is  indeed 
the  influx  of  these  unfortunates  that  keeps  us  in 
touch  with  the  progress  of  the  outworld — though 
unable  to  communicate  with  it." 

"We  will  now  hear  from  Doctor  Remington," 
our  tutor  interposed,  "concerning  the  evolution  of 
its  government." 

"The  government  of  Jaxland,"  responded  the 
disciple  of  Aesculapius,  "was  at  first  openly  des- 
potic, reacting  into  radical  democracy  and  by  de- 
grees becoming  more  and  more  republican ;  with  the 
increased  redundancy  of  its  wealth,  however,  the 
government  became  more  positively  despotic — in 
spite  of  republican  pretensions.  The  truth  did  not 
seem  to  dawn  upon  the  people  that  financial  anarchy 
could  not  reign  without  despotic  authority,  and  that 
what  the  laws  did  not  openly  grant,  would  be  secret- 
ly appropriated.  Underneath  the  beautiful  veil  of 
liberty  could  easily  be  seen  the  glittering  mail  of 
financial  autocracy.  Wielding  an  almost  unlimited 
patronage,  which  it  was  free  to.  employ  in  either 
bribing  or  intimidating  men  into  support  of  its 
measures,  it  could  well  laugh  at  all  restrictions  upon 
direct  bribery  or  upon  direct  intimidation ;  nor  durst 
its  puppet  press  cry  'stop  thief  at  the  real  culprit. 
It  could  even  laugh  in  its  sleeve  while  outwardly 
frothing  at  the  mouth  over  attempts  to  regulate  the 
methods  of  its  robberies — regulations  that  were  to 
restrain  commercial  while  sanctifying  the  greater 
evil  of  economic  plunder. 

* l  Plutocracy,  standing  behind  the  throne  of  gov- 
ernmental authority,  had  neither  politics,  religion 
nor  principle.  It  was  a  wealth-sucking  leech  on  the 
body  of  industry — exhausting  and  deadly.  Bred  in 


Prior  to  Centrism.  109 

the  filthy  pool  of  commerce,  it  had  neither  soul  nor 
character ;  it  was  a  leech.  Once  in  a  while  it  lifted  it- 
self up  to  the  plane  of  philanthropy,  but  the  days  in 
which  it  went  forth  as  Jekyl  were  the  exception — 
and  Hyde  played  Jekyl  so  much  that  it  ceased  to  be 
safe  to  trust  either.  As  like  as  not  your  extended 
hand  would  be  badly  bitten.  Plutocracy  could  never 
keep  its  greedy  hands  from  the  power  funds  of  social 
trust.  The  filth  of  its  commercial  anarchy  was  trace- 
able in  every  domain  of  organization,  however  lofty 
its  purpose. 

"Wealth  in  ancient  times  bought  armies  and 
often  governed  nations;' and  why  could  not  modern 
wealth  do  the  same — hiring  political  troops,  and 
through  their  support  wielding  the  truncheon  of  po- 
litical authority?  Starving  men  with  nothing  to  do 
readily  attach  themselves  to  any  standard,  and  such 
have  been  the  mercenaries  who  have  supported 
power-seeking  adventures  in  all  ages.  Change  but 
the  sword  for  the  ballot,  and  presto — you  have  your 
feudalism  back  again.  Put  your  billionaire  dollars 
in  place  of  Caesar's  legions;  and  Bed  Cross  in  place 
of  Rome;  and  all  your  statutes  forthwith  spell  the 
will  of  Caesar.  You  may  girdle  the  earth  with  a 
rainbow  spelling  the  golden  rule ;  but  while  you  spell 
license  in  your  fundamental  laws  it  will  only  orna- 
ment a  rule  of  steel  and  blood. ' ' 

"Mr.  Burton  I  see  wears  a  cheerful  smile,"  our 
instructor  facetiously  remarked,  "perhaps  he  would 
like  telling  us  how  the  vast  accumulations  of  wealth 
affected  the  industrial  development  of  Jaxland." 

'  *  There  was  no  pact  or  voluntary  contract  in  the 
silent  trust  of  capitalism,"  begin  the  former  labor 
leader.  "It  rested  solely  upon  the  license  permitted 


110  The  Making  of  a  Millennium. 

the  capitalist  to  short- job  the  market  and  thereby 
evade  competition  in  bidding  for  labor.  Cap- 
ital was  manifestly  the  greatest  of  all  trusts — in  fact 
the  mother  of  all  trust  power — limited  only  by  the 
endurance  of  its  slaves.  Simultaneous  with  each 
act  of  abstention  went  the  correlative  deprivation 
or  dispossession  of  the  consumer,  made  thereby  pro- 
portionally more  dependent  on  the  loan  of  the  ab- 
stainer's accumulating  surplus  or  its  use  in  some 
form  of  borrowing — whether  as  tenant  or  employe. 
As  previously  said,  the  market  for  capital 
was  only  limited  by  the .  ability  of  the  dispos- 
sessed to  support  it;  and  as  a  natural  outcome,  its 
accumulations  were  injected  into  the  fields  of  com- 
merce and  industry  in  the  form  of  a  vast  redun- 
dancy of  enterprises,  which,  through  their  repellent 
attitude  toward  each  other,  absorbed  an  enormous 
superfluity  of  capital  and  diverted  an  incalculable 
amount  of  labor  from  productive  pursuits.  The  in- 
crease of  capital,  instead  of  lowering  the  cost  of 
their  operation,  rather  enhanced  it,  in  proportion  as 
trade  became  more  fragmentary — a  condition  to 
to  which  redundancy  tended  and  which  was  not  cor- 
rected by  the  custom  of  exacting  the  highest  prices 
possible,  by  division  through  inheritances,  by  the 
continuous  influx  of  fresh  capital  or  by  the  increas- 
ing birth  rate  of  wage  slaves. 

1 '  The  whole  trend  of  capital  was  to  withhold  ex- 
penditures until  profits  were  assured — a  result  in 
the  end  forthcoming  as  the  consequence  of  the  con- 
current increase  in  the  amount  of  abstention. 
The  employment  of  men  and  the  service  to 
commerce  were  merely  incidental  accompaniments 


Prior  to  Centrism.  Ill 

to  the  exaction  of  profits;  and  these  exactions 
always  left"  industry  more  impeded  and  dependent 
than  before.  In  seeking  outlets,  every  avenue  and 
means  of  impeding  industry  and  mulcting  it  through 
the  power  of  impediment  was  sought— not  for  the 
love  of  impeding  trade,  but  for  the  love  of  profits. 
Whatever  commodities  or  necessities  it  could  control 
on  a  basis  offering  profits  it  would  purchase ;  every 
privilege,  right  of  way,  or  strip  of  land,  whose  pos- 
session could  be  used  to  withhold  necessities — sub- 
ject to  usury, — were  eagerly  bought.  Business  en- 
terprises of  all  kinds,  franchises  and  stocks  in  cor- 
porations, were  sought  and  purchased  at  prices 
based  on  the  amount  of  the  profits  they  might  enable 
the  owner  to  exact.  Money  was  borrowed  and  credit 
extended  for  the  exploitation  of  enterprises,  as  well 
as  by  consumers  who  borrowed  and  resorted  to 
credit  out  of  sheer  necessity, — due  to  insufficient 
employment  and  insufficient  wages. 

"The  support  of  all  this  vast  redundancy  of 
capital,  with  its  multiple  profits  and  multiple  repro- 
duction costs,  and  with  its  enormous  diversion  of 
labor  to  repellant  and  non-productive  occupations, 
was  no  small  burden  to  heap  on  the  shoulders  of  the 
consumer,  and  was  bound  to  absorb  the  cream  of  the 
benefits  accruing  from  the  concurrent  increase  in 
material  production  due  to  the  influence  of  science 
and  education." 

"In  order  to  realize  how  repellent  these  vast 
accumulations  were,"  Mr.  Blake  here  interposed, 
"we  will  listen  to  Mr.  Busk,  who  will  inform  us  of  its 
action  in  relation  to  lands. ' ' 


112  The  Making  of  a  Millennium. 

LANDS. 

"In  granting  titles  to  lands,"  I  responded,  "the 
government  had  failed  to  make  any  distinction  as 
to  the  purpose  for  which  they  were  to  be  used.  It 
was  not  asked  whether  they  were  to  be  tilled  by  the 
purchaser,  or  merely  retained  for  the  sake  of  the 
profits  that  might  be  extorted  for  their  use  from 
those  otherwise  excluded.  This  privilege  was  an  al- 
together unique  manner  of  rendering  extortions  and 
restraint  of  trade  lawful,  which,  according  to  fund- 
amental principles  of  law,  were  manifestly  unlawful. 

"The  titles  to  land  thus  recklessly  granted 
seemed  to  be  founded  on  the  idea  that  services 
rendered,  or  a  price  paid  for  them,  justified  their  ex- 
tortions as  a  reward  for  the  investment — a  theory 
that  would  also  justify  murder,  if  only  a  price  were 
paid  for  the  privilege.  That  the  purchase  money 
was  a  fugitive  currency  evading  the  redemption  of 
products,  and  a  subject  for  confiscation  rather  than 
reward,  ,was  of  course  Overlooked.  In  effect  the 
granting  of  these  titles  put  a  further  premium  on 
abstention  by  allowing  investments  in  the  forestall- 
ment  of  access  to  lands.  It  resulted  in  shutting  men 
out  upon  all  sides,  either  being  driven  into  the  wild- 
erness, economically  and  sociallly  ostracised,  or  else 
compelled  to  pay  tribute  to  the  land  owner. 

"The  license  embodied  in  land  ownership  thus 
worked  immeasurable  injury,  scattering  people  over 
the  country  in  the  most  haphazard  and  unreasonable 
manner.  This  was  directly  due  to  the  unlimited 
graft  held  by  the  land  owners,  who  vied  with  one  an- 
other in  asking  as  high  sales  and  rental  prices  as 
their  locations  would  permit, — thereby  leveling  to 
the  prospective  buyer  or  tenant  all  the  inherent  dis- 


Prior  to  Centrism.  113 

tinctions  that  should  otherwise  have  determined  his 
choice  of  location.  Every  advantage  being  offset 
by  proportionate  advances  in  the  prices  charged,  lo- 
cations were  all  reduced  to  one  level  of  desirability 
and  looked  alike  to  either  tenant  or  buyer.  This  in- 
evitably led  to  the  most  extravagantly  promiscuous 
distribution — scattering  population  helter  skelter, 
twixt  utter  isolation  and  the  meanest  congestion. 

"Through  speculative  land  ownership  the  habi- 
tations of  men  were  as  capriciously  scattered,  as  if 
shaken  out  of  some  monster  seive.  Every  hamlet, 
town  or  city  had  from  its  infancy  grown  in  this  de- 
sultory manner,  spread  out  in  defiance  of  distance — 
the  citizens  ever  mumbling  and  grumbling  about  the 
exorbitant  taxes,  yet  never  giving  utterance  to  a  syl- 
lable of  complaint  against  the  colossal  tax  imposed 
by  this  scatternalia.  Think  of  compelling  everybody 
to  go  by  foot,  by  rail,  or  by  other  means,  over  the 
long  stretches  of  inferior  walks  and  drives;  to  be 
subjected  to  cartage,  freight  and  expressage  costs; 
to  be  plagued  with  countless  delays  and  annoyances ; 
to  provide  the  various  road  and  street  improvements 
over  a  stretch  of  territory  five  times  as  long  as  would 
under  &  proper  distribution  have  been  needed.  Think 
what  this  vast  extravagance  of  distance  means  and 
the  great  increase  in  the  number  of  middlemen  it 
imposes,  taxing  producer  and  consumer  both,  on 
everything  passing  between  the  farm  and  the  city 
homes  and  factories. 

"Taxing  the  average  landowner  far  more  than 
the  amount  of  revenue  he  derives  from  it,  how  much 
greater  burden  is  this  tax  upon  those  who  have  no 
revenues  to  counteract  its  burdens !  Scarcely  one  in 
twenty  land  owners  profits  by  the  ownership.  Scat- 


114  The  Making  of  a  Millennium. 

tered  about  so  unreasonably,  they  dwell  in  houses 
resting  veritably  upon  stilts, — requiring  the  tall  lad- 
ders of  extra  distance  or  extra  improvement  taxes  to 
be  climbed,  before  they  can  be  reached.  Coming  and 
going,  it  is  all  up  or  down  the  long  stairs  of  super- 
fluous distance  separating  shop  and  farm.  Every- 
thing that  went  or  came  had  to  travel  the  frightful 
ups  and  downs — the  superfluous  distances,  regis- 
tered in  stilted  bills  for  fares  and  freights,  for  gas 
and  water  and  sewerage,  for  street  and  sidewalk 
paving,  for  telephone  service  and  in  fact  for  every- 
thing that  went  upon  the  table  or  in  the  household ; 
for  whatever  middlemen  had  to  contribute  towards 
these  extravagances  was  well  charged  for  in  the 
prices  of  merchandise.  And  what  of  the  thousands 
maimed  and  murdered  by  the  lax  patrol  of  these 
vistas  of  distance — the  railroad  and  other  accidents 
by  flood  and  field — a  frightful  bill  hardly  to  be  reck- 
oned in  dollars  and  cents. 

"Was  ever  a  greater  delusion  than  these  land 
values,  unless  it  were  possibly  the  cargoes  of  fool's 
gold  once  sent  across  the  seas  in  the  belief  that  the 
glittering  rocks  contained  the  precious  metal?  While 
the  average  landowner  derives  some  revenue  from 
his  land  it  may  be  regarded  a  very  poor  compensa- 
tion to  set  against  the  heavy  tax ;  and  as  long  as  the 
system  imposing  the  tax  is  in  operation  he  may  con- 
tent himself  with  his  revenue  and  flatter  himself 
with  the  delusion  that  he  is  netting  a  balance  justi- 
fying the  value  placed  upon  his  land. 

' '  The  utter  absurdity  of  this  land  rapacity  bears 
indeed  a  humorous  resemblance  to  the  fashion  in 
vogue  in  my  country  in  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth 


Prior  to  Centrism. 


115 


century,  when  an  approaching  crinoline  would  drive 
the  courteous  gentlemen  pedestrain  into  the  gutter. " 
"Very  good,  Mr.  Busk;  Captain  Clark  will  now 
tell  us  what  he  knows  concerning  business  invest- 
ments;" and  Mr.  Blake  added,  "he  probably  knows 


Diminutive  Land  Grabbing. 

some  facts  concerning  the  treachery  of  the  sea  of 
commerce  as  well  as  of  other  seas. ' ' 

"The  free  and  unlimited  mintage  of  capital  in 
the  commercial  arena,"  observed  our  nautical 
friend,  "let  loose  great  torents  of  wealth  to  engage 
in  a  general  battle  for  supremacy, — one  man's  wealth 
against  another's.  It  was  a  battle  in  which  little 
mercy  was  shown.  As  in  gladiatorial  combats,  its 


116  The  Making  of  a  Millennium. 

victims  soon  passed  from  view,  while  those  victor- 
ious were  constantly  paraded  before  the  public  eye 
as  successful  men  and  multi-millionaires.  Glitter, 
pomp  and  splendor  dazzled  the  eyes  of  the  people; 
for  even  the  gladiators  of  commerce  had  to  smile 
lest  their  credit  and  their  nerve  fail  them;  ahd 
safety  always  compelled  a  man  to  put  on  an  appear- 
ance of  prosperity,  and  to  hide  the  load  of  debt  and 
difficulty  under  which  he  staggered.  Such  was  the 
seething  conflict  into  which  came  pouring  a  constant 
stream  of  newly  recruited  capital — all  seeking  re- 
munerative occupation — man  arrayed  against  man; 
village,  town  and  city  each  against  the  other;  and 
section  against  section, — throughout  all  Jaxland. 
The  very  brain  and  brawn  of  the  living  was  crowded 
out  by  dead  surplus  wealth. 

"Surplus  wealth  forced  its  way  into  the  com- 
mercial arena  as  capital,  whether  there  was  really 
need  of  it  or  no ;  for  commerce  was  a  divided  camp ; 
and  capital  forced  itself  upon  the  warring  mer- 
chants, Hessian-like,  going  to  one's  rival  to  be  used 
against  him  if  he  failed  to  avail  himself  of  its  ser- 
vice. It  was  altogether  mercenary, — going  to  the 
highest  bidder,  constantly  intensifying  the  severity 
of  the  conflict,  and  involving  in  its  moil  the  working 
man  whose  only  merchandise  was  the  labor  he  had  to 
dispose  of. 

"In  their  craze  for  supremacy  the  rival  mer- 
chants dispatched  whole  armies  of  trade-seeking 
emissaries  to  intercept  the  demand  for  commodities, 
the  control  of  which  enabled  the  exaction  of  profits. 
Profits  represented  the  remainder  left  after  the 
wage  earner  had  been  shortweighed  on  the  fraudu- 
lent demand  and  supply  value  scale ;  and  in  order  to 


Prior  to  Centrism. 


117 


gather  the  biggest  share  of  this  undelivered  re- 
mainder the  mercantile  world  dispatched  these 
hordes  of  drummers,  canvassers,  hucksters,  fakirs 
and  what  not,  all  tramping  and  traveling  at  enor- 
mous cost  up  and  down  the  land,  from  house  to 


Trade-Seeking  Emissaries. 

house,  from  town  to  town  and  from  hamlet  to  ham- 
let, duplicating  each  other's  paths  by  the  score,  and 
all  exerting  themselves  to  the  utmost  to  secure  a 
trade  which  became  only  the  more  fragmentary  and 
costly  as  their  number  increased. 

' '  Come  high  as  it  would,  no  establishment  could 
safely  evade  this  necessity.  Little  trade  would  come 
to  them  of  its  own  accord;  for  not  only  were  men 
everywhere  actively  engaged  in  forstalling  it,  but 


118  The  Making  of  a  Millennium. 

other  trade-coaxing  devices  were  also  being  resorted 
to,  particularly  advertising, — applied  in  a  thousand 
and  one  different  ways,  including  the  use  of  news- 
paper space,  music,  costly  signs,  show  windows,  fairs, 
and  many  other  devices — all  combining  to  heap  bur- 
den upon  burden  upon  the  shoulders  of  labor, — the 
final  paymaster. 

"The  universal  practice  of  taxing  industry  all 
the  traffic  would  bear  was  a  leveling  system  in  busi- 
ness as  well  as  in  land  ownership.  It  kept  alive  the 
most  uneconomic  little  store  by  the  side  of  the  big- 
gest establishments — the  incentives  to  true  economy 
being  dormant  or  only  feebly  aroused. 

"Look  at  the  disposition  of  these  vast  warring 
forces,  divided  into  millions  of  antagonistic  enter- 
prises from  the  common  peanut  stand  to  great 
steamship  lines  and  inter-continental  railways — the 
bulk  of  them  retail  stores  duplicated  in  ten  and 
twenty  fold  redundancy  and  employing  a  twenty  fold 
redundancy  of  capital,  thereby  taxing  industry  with 
a  proportional  redundancy  of  profits,  risks,  repro- 
duction costs,  and  general  expenses — an  appalling 
aggregate  of  taxes  heaped  upon  the  shoulders  of 
labor  with  the  merest  mite  of  service  to  represent 
them. 

"What  a  motley  array  of  petty  corporalships 
and  lieutenancies  and  captaincies  are  displayed  in 
this  most  wonderful  of  all  armies — this  army  of  in- 
dustrial undiscipline  which  seeks  to  conquer  econ- 
omy through  waste,  order  through  disorder,  organi- 
zation through  antagonism  and  peace  through  anti- 
tipathies !  Romantic  vision,  this  crusade  of  the  mod- 
ern knights  of  the  golden  fleece!  Heavenly  dream, 
in  which  all  the  earth  and  all  that  it  contains — body 


Prior  to  Centrism.  119 

and  soul — are  to  be  made  captives  in  the  meshes  of 
the  golden  fleece !  Glorious  knights  these  doughty 
generals  of  the  money  bag  army !  Disturb  them  not ; 
let  them  dream  on. 

"Is  it  not  a  pity  that  outworld  industry  should 
be  cursed  with  this  vast  cancer  of  redundancy,  eat- 
ing the  flesh  of  industry  at  a  thousand  points- 
mangling,  distorting,  diverting,  and  devouring — a 
tax  robbing  it  of  more  than  three-fourths  of  its  pro- 
duct as  compared  with  despotic  Pharoah's  petty 
tenth!  Why  must  labor  submit  to  the  penalty  of 
this  awful  drain — this  prolonged  torment  and  tor- 
ture? Why  must  it  undergo  this  industrial  cruci- 
fixion? Is  it  all  for  the  glory  of  a  respectable  green 
goods  system  of  finance,  and  for  the  building  up  of 
mountains  of  soap  bubble  wealth  as  glittering  as 
delusive  1 

"And  what  of  the  myriads  of  dealers  in  de- 
pravities of  all  sorts — all  the  mind  and  body  de- 
bauching instrumentalities,  criminalities  and  frauds, 
against  which  all  the  statutory  laws  seem  unable  to 
cope?  Why  are  all  these  so  persistent?  Why,  but 
for  the  reason  that  the  strain  to  make  ends  meet  has 
weakened  the  moral  sense  as  well  as  the  moral  in- 
fluence of  every  mastership — from  the  man  in  the 
pulpit,  on  the  press,  on  the  bench,  or  at  any  post  of 
prominence,  down  to  the  rank  and  file  in  whatsoever 
walk. 

"In  addition  to  all  the  previous  inventory  of 
pillage  and  destruction  through  profits  and  wastage, 
the  supplementary  armies  carrying  knapsacks  in 
place  of  grips,  and  seeking  to  take  lives  instead  of 
orders — this  vast  agency  for  both  offensive  and  de- 
fensive use  in  the  battle  for  trade — the  struggle  in 


120  The  Making  of  a  Millennium. 

which  great  bodies  of  men  engage  to  acquire  for 
capital  more  profits  and  to  purloin  jobs  abroad  with 
which  to  cover  up  the  deficiencies  produced  at  home 
by  its  abstentions — with  its  tax  of  blood  and  its  har- 
vest of  widows  and  orphans,  is  no  insignificant  bur- 
den added  to  those  I  have  already  mentioned.  Was 
not  all  this  thunder  of  war  and  rain  of  blood  mainly 
the  outcome  of  the  primary  antagonism  engendered 
by  the  insistence  of  the  abstainer  on  his  iniquitous 
privilege  to  steal  jobs  and  pillage  wages?" 

"Mrs.  Luzby  will  inform  us,"  our  tutor  now  an-, 
nounced,  "how  the  system  fitted  men  into  occupa- 
tions." 

"Its  influence  in  fitting  people  to  suitable  oc- 
cupations was  deplorable,"  responded  the  brilliant 
club  woman,  "the  majority  of  beginners  being 
launched  into  any  occupation  offering  itself.  Poverty 
forbid  a  reasonable  selection,  constantly  forcing 
square  pegs  into  round  holes.  Not  only  were  they 
sadly  misplaced  but  their  faculties  were  impaired 
and  their  powers  dwarfed  by  early  overwork  and 
improper  hygienic  surroundings, — often  spending 
their  days  in  dark  and  damp  places  or  exposed  to 
undue  severity  of  weather,  and  required  also  to  en- 
dure the  full  strain  of  the  long  hours  exacted  from 
adults. 

"The  firstlings  of  all  opportunity  were  also  in 
the  hands  of  the  wealthy  who  dispensed  these  among 
themselves,  their  relatives  and  their  favorites. 
Worth  was  always  subordinate,  and  unless  obse- 
quious and  cringing  to  the  Lords  of  Industry,  was 
ignored  and  often  persecuted.  A  silent  despotism 
permeated  all  fields.  Men  of  ability  and  insight  who 


Prior  to  Centrism.  121 

were  candid  and  outspoken, — particularly  in  matters 
wherein  opinions  radically  differed,  and  especially 
matters  relating  to  this  pernicious  system — had  only 
crumbs  to  expect,  and  were  often  belittled  and  ma- 
ligned in  order  to  dwarf  the  importance  of  their 
words.  It  was  a  common  thing  for  them  to  be  os- 
tracised and  abused  as  enemies  of  society. 

"The  whole  trend  of  the  system  was  to  train 
inferiors  and  to  drive  talent  and  genius  into  obscur- 
ity, where  the  faculties  of  men  would  either  fail  to 
develop,  or  rust  unused.  It  put  a  premium  upon 
hypocricy,  requiring  monstrous  falsehoods  and  con- 
cealments of  truth  to  sustain  in  quasi  respectability 
its  low  character.  Many  a  stupid  and  inferior  per- 
son was  paid  an  exorbitant  salary  for  silence  rather 
than  for  actual  service.  A  lie  is  ever  a  costly  luxury, 
and  the  colossal  lie  of  capitalism  has  not  been  sup- 
ported and  worshipped  all  these  years  without  leav- 
ing its  world-wide  stain  of  deformity  and  corruption. 
Not  in  vain  has  money  been  designated  the  root  of 
evil ;  for  out  of  its  defections  has  grown  the  tree  of 
evil — the  tree  of  capitalism — a  spreading  upas 
plant,  whose  pestilential  vapors  still  fill  the  dark  at- 
mosphere of  our  outworld  life.  It  needs  merely  the 
light  of  truth  to  dispel  its  baneful  exhalations  and 
kill  the  hideous  plant. 

"If  there  is  much  misfortune  and  much  sin  in 
the  world,  it  is  largely  due  to  the  vast  amount  of  dis- 
placement and  misplacement  of  men ;  for  you  cannot 
displace  men  without  also  displacing  manhood. 
Every  ailment  must  be  dealt  with  according  to  its 
source;  that  which  is  purely  an  individual  trouble 
may  be  treated  through  the  individual;  but  that 


122  The  Making  of  a  Millennium. 

which  is  due  altogether  to  social  causes  can  only  be 
remedied  through  social  means.  It  is  therefore  not 
enough  to  preach  individual  morality,  unless  in- 
cluding within  its  scope  the  exercise  also  of  social 
morality — effort  at  reform  in  the  moral  structure  of 
society  itself." 


CHAPTER  IX. 
The  Great  Transition  Era. 

"I  will  divide  my  goods; 

Call  in  the  wretch  and  slave; 
None  shall  rule  but  the  humble, 

And  none  but  toil  shall  have." 

— Emerson. 

"Our  lesson  today  will  deal  with  the  transfor- 
mation of  turbulent  Jaxland  into  the  peaceful  mil- 
lennium of  our  present  Temploria." 

With  the  above  words  Mr.  Blake  announced  the 
subject  of  our  next  class  meeting,  after  which  Mr. 
Oswald  was  called  on  to  explain  how  the  change  be- 
gun. 

"The  new  epoch  had  its  beginning  in  Aurosia," 
cheerfully  responded  the  young  Missourian,  "at  a 
time  when  Jaxland  was  prostrated  with  a  severe  at- 
tack of  industrial  depression.  Aurosia  was  a  pros- 
perous, newly  settled  state,  whose  properties  had 
fallen  largely  into  the  hands  of  non-residents.  The 
alienated  holdings  caused  a  constant  outflow  of  cur- 
rency in  the  payment  of  interest  and  dividends  to 
the  non-resident  owners;  and  when  these  non-resi- 
dents failed  to  reinvest  this  outflow  it  gradually 
drained  the  channels  of  Aurosian  currency  until  it 
stranded  most  of  her  enterprises. 

"Drained  of  her  currency,  the  wheels  of  Auro- 
sian industry  were  gradually  blocked  as  if  the  power 
had  somehow  been  shut  off.  There  was  soon  a  great 
dearth  of  work  in  the  shops,  and  a  superabundance 


124 


The  Making  of  a  Millennium. 


of  idle  men  in  the  streets.  By  and  by  the  fever  of 
hunger  began  to  gnaw  and  agitate,  and  the  super- 
heated steam  of  popular  wrath  began  to  escape  like 
sparks  from  a  fire-spitting  cloud.  It  was  a  sullen 
cloud,  black,  ominous,  and  full  of  dark  forebodings. 


Idleness  Is  Busy. 

The  state  had  been  forbidden  by  law  to  issue 
credit  currency;  yet  no  provision  to  relieve  such  a 
situation  had  accompanied  the  prohibitory  enact- 
ment; and  the  Jaxland  government  was  crippled  to 
absolute  impotence. 

"What  was  poor  Aurosia  to  do?  She  could  not 
rely  on  this  will-o'-the-wisp  currency  which  had 
clearly  deserted  its  post  as  circulating  medium. 

"Deeply  the  Aurosians  pondered  over  the  sit- 
uation. They  traced  the  flow  of  the  currency,  and 


The  Great  Transition  Era.  125 

asked  themselves  why  it  did  not  return  to  Aurosia. 
For  the  first  time  now  they  noted  that  its  return  was 
purely  optional,  and  that  it  should  have  been  com- 
pulsory. They  soon  reached  the  conclusion  that 
money  is  and  should  be  nothing  else  than  a  medium 
— a  constantly  movable  and  rotating  medium,  and 
not  a  merely  optional  redeemer  of  its  credit  on  prod- 
ucts. Products  must  become  fully  as  redeemable  in 
money  as  money  in  products;  for  the  purpose  of 
money  was  to  facilitate  and  not  to  impede  the  inter- 
change of  services.  Upon  that  basis  they  proceeded, 
and  it  was  not  long  before  the  scheme  of  Centrism 
was  devised. 

'.'No  time  was  now  to  be  lost;  and  before  a 
month  had  passed  every  adult  in  Aurosia  had  been 
provided  with  a  purse  containing  a  hundred  centrets 
and  a  hundred  dollars  in  Aurosian  currency.  Gentry 
was  also  given  to  business  institutions,  which  were 
allowed  an  amount  equal  to  one-month's  payroll. 
New  currency  was  also  issued  until  its  volume 
equalled  that  of  the  centry,  and  the  old  was  gradu- 
ally redeemed  by  the  general  government,  but  with- 
out giving  centry  in  return. 

"The  joint  use  of  centry  with  money  deprived 
the  money  of  all  thoSe  objectionable  defects-  inher- 
ent in  credit  currency,  and  obviated  the  charge  of 
violating  Jaxland  law.  Further  investment  in  prop- 
erties for  revenue-yielding  were  also  prohibited  as 
evasions  of  product  redemption. 

"Out  of  the  valley  of  industrial  death  Aurosia 
now  arose  as  from  a  trance,  her  markets  shielded 
from  the  suicidal  throttling  of  Jaxland  abstinence 
and  no  longer  terrorized  by  its  fickleness.  Soon  the 
forges  of  industry  were  all  blazing  away  till  the  light 


126 


The  Making  of  a  Millennium. 


of  the  new  prosperity  radiated  in  every  countenance 
and  upon  every  hearth. 

"The  boom  in  Aurosia  differed  from  all  pre- 
vious eras  of  prosperity.  There  was  no  speculation 
in  the  moil  of  its  activity.  Stocks  and  lands  seemed 
perfectly  stagnant,  rather  tending  to  decline,  while 


WEVE  TIME 
TO  LIVE  AND 

SOMETHING 
TO  LIVE  ™~ 


Prosperity  Arrived. 

legitimate  industry  in  all  branches  was  stirred  to  its 
utmost  capacity.  Wages  rose  at  a  much  faster  pace 
than  the  prices  of  products,  while  interest,  rents  and 
profits  were  falling;  and  pay  rolls  greatly  exceeded 
the  volume  of  the  immediate  popular  expenditures, 
leaving  an  exceptional  margin  for  the  acquisition  of 
homes  and  productive  plants.  The  doors  of  oppor- 
tunity had  been  opened — gates  of  an  earthly  para- 


The  Great  Transition  Era.  127 

dise  of  possession — and  the  multitude  came  pouring 
in  to  secure  their  inheritance. 

'  *  Shops  and  factories  ran  full  blast,  many  being 
unable  to  keep  up  with  the  orders  pouring  in  from 
all  sides.  From  factory  to  store,  and  from  store  to 
household,  the  products  of  labor  fairly  flew — filling 
larder  and  wardrobe,  and  bringing  into  the  home  de- 
vices for  comfort  and  convenience,  as  well  as  beau- 
tifying adornments. 

"The  capitalist  was  now  obliged  to  give  centry 
in  order  to  take  in  his  customary  revenues;  and  he 
was  unable  to  obtain  centry  except  through  expen- 
ditures for  commodities.  This  brought  into  the 
market  a  demand  for  commodities  largely  in  excess 
of  the  former  volume,  simultaneously  with  the  prop- 
erty investments  of  the  people  supplying  them  with 
the  surplus  revenues  needed  for  these  property  pur- 
chases; and  through  the  surplus  labor  demand,  it 
simultaneously  enhanced  the  price  of  labor  and 
greatly  facilitated  the  acquisitions.  The  process  of 
capitalism  was  now  merely  being  reversed,  and  the 
depletion  of  the  people  being  stopped.  It  seemed  as 
if  it  had  been  the  capitalists  who  were  being  de- 
pleted ;  but  this  was  far  from  the  truth,  for  as  said, 
it  was  merely  the  restoration  of  normal  conditons 
and  the  arrest  of  further  capitalistic  depredations. 

"Property  investments  were  meanwhile  con- 
fined to  non-profit  enterprises;  and  as  few  people 
had  sufficient  money  for  such  purposes,  and  the  cap- 
italist had  an  insufficient  store  of  centry,  such  sales 
were  usually  made  on  long  time,  the  purchase  price 
being  smaller  in  proportion  as  the  time  was  ex- 
tended. It  was  worth  a  premium  to  help  preserve 


128  The  Making  of  a  Millennium. 

wealth  for  those  who  could  not  immediately  use  it 
and  had  no  other  legitimate  method  available  for  its 
preservation. 

' ' A  striking  feature  of  the  day  was  the  universal 
conversion  of  the  tenant  into  a  home  owner,  the 
employe  into  a  proprietor,  the  idler  into  a  worker; 
and  in  thousands  of  channels,  non-productive  into 
productive  labor. 

1 1  Such  a  piece  of  industrial  magic  as  Aurosia 
presented  had  been  undreamed  of.  The  capitalist 
rubbed  his  eyes,  wondering  whether  he  was  asleep 
or  awake.  Little  did  it  occur  to  him  that  the  pre- 
vious state  of  affairs  had  also  been  a  piece  of  magic 
—dark  and  awful  magic — by  which  a  handful  of 
men  had  been  enabled  to  gather  as  their  own  what 
all  the  rest  had  produced.  Prior  to  this,  the  capital- 
ist had  been  the  sleeper — the  dreamer — and  he  was 
now  for  the  first  time  awake. 

"In  Jaxland  the  depression  was  meanwhile 
gnawing  her  very  heart  strings ;  and  but  for  the  ap- 
proach of  a  near  election,  Centrism  would  no  doubt 
have  been  as  peremptorily  inaugurated  there  as  in 
Aurosia. 

"Beports  of  Aurosian  prosperity  now  caused 
all  attention  to  be  directed  to  the  new  system,  and  a 
large  number  of  centry  clubs  were  organized,  spread- 
ing the  gospel  of  Centrism,  preparatory  to  forming 
a  political  party  through  which  to  promulgate  the 
issue  until  victory  should  be  achieved.  The  majority 
parties,  being  controlled  by  capitalists,  naturally  op- 
posed the  movement,  while  a  minority  party — al- 
ready committed  to  the  cause  of  industrial  regen- 
eration— undertook  to  pledge  itself  to  the  task.  It 
thereby  won  to  its  ranks  myriads  of  recruits  from 


The  Great  Transition  Era.  129 

workers  in  all  stations  and  gained  followers  so  rap- 
idly that  election  day  closed  with  Centrism  triumph- 
ant." 

'  *  Now  let  us  hear  about  the  behavior  of  Centrism 
in  Jaxland,"  our  tutor  resumed.  "Perhaps  Mr. 
Eusk  will  supply  us  with  this  information. ' ' 

' '  Following  the  introduction  of  Centrism, "  I  re- 
sponded, l '  came  a  revival  of  indutsry  similar  to  that 
which  had  awakened  Aurosia. 

"A  striking  feature  of  this  era  was  the  enor- 
mous increase  in  the  demand  for  labor  in  all  fields  of 
legitimate  production,  coupled  with  a  remarkable 
diversion  of  effort  from  redundant  and  trade-divert- 
ing occupations  into  channels  of  direct  production. 
Getting  orders  became  quite  a  different  thing  from 
getting  the  goods  with  which  to  fill  them  or  the  labor 
with  which  the  commodities  were  to  be  produced. 
The  volume  of  unsolicited  trade  was  now  so  great  as 
to  absorb  the  capacity  of  most  manufacturers.  The 
result  was  that  employers  soon  realized  the  folly  of 
paying  for  orders  that  they  would  be  unable  to  de- 
liver. A  single  solicitor  also  would  now  often  take 
more  orders  in  one  day  than  previously  in  a  week. 
As  a  result  a  large  part  of  the  money  previously 
applied  to  the  getting  of  trade  was  now  added,  to 
wages  as  an  inducement  for  more  help — for  a  man's 
trade  now  depended  on  the  number  and  quality  of 
his  help.  The  bulk  of  those  previously  engaged  in 
soliciting  and  allied  pursuits  now  also  found  more 
lucrative  employment  in  direct  production. 

"Owing  to  the  more  severe  competition  in  the 
getting  of  help  and  the  getting  of  goods,  the  smaller 
dealers  of  all  sorts  were  obliged  to  seek  other  oc- 
cupations or  else  consolidate ;  for  now  only  business 


130  The  Making  of  a  Millennium. 

that  was  organized  on  a  large  scale  and  well  man- 
aged could  pay  the  prices  necessary  to  meet  the  ad- 
vance in  wages  and  in  prices  of  goods.  Eeal  com- 
petition had  at  last  set  in — the  test  of  getting  as 
close  to  cost  as  possible — the  cost  of  service  as  dic- 
tated by  the  most  economic  union  of  consumer  and 
producer  instead  of  that  resulting  from  their  reck- 
less separation.  Obliged  to  give  centry  now  with  all 
his  sales,  and  excluded  from  acquiring  these  through 
capitalistic  investments,  competition  compelled  the 
merchant  to  limit  margins  according  to  the  value  of 
his  actual  service — a  test  he  had  also  to  meet  in  view 
of  the  fact  that  his  clerks  were  now  acquiring  the 
necessary  surplus  with  which  to  embark  for  them- 
selves in  co-operative  cost  stores. 

''The  barbarous  and  lavish  display  indulged  in 
by  the  former  retail  merchants  became  a  thing  of  the 
past;  and  now  very  small  stocks  were  carried,  in 
conjunction  with  elaborate  lines  of  samples.  Goods 
were  usually  wanted  as  fast  as  they  could  be  pro- 
cured, leaving  them  no  chance  to  accumulate  upon 
the  store  shelves  and  become  staled  and  shopworn 
while  waiting  for  customers.  The  dominant  idea  in 
these  stores  was  no -longer  to  dazzle  and  bewilder  the 
customer,  but  to  deliver  the  most  effectual  service. 
The  expenses  of  brass  bands  and  show  windows 
were  dispensed  with,  and  better  light,  heat  and  ven- 
tilation supplied  to  clerks  and  public ;  and  both  pub- 
lic and  clerks  shared  the  benefit  of  the  economies  as 
well  as  the  better  service. 

"Instead  of  having  to  assume  the  hazards  and 
extra  outlays  involved  in  the  giving  of  extensive 
credits,  the  dealer  was  now  paid  far  in  advance — 
buyers  not  only  aiming  to  secure  an  earlier  registry 


The  Great  Transition  Era.  131 

<» 

and  delivery  of  their  orders,  but  also  to  receive  the 
centry  through  which  they  facilitated  their  further 
employment.  They  liked  to  keep  a  good  stock  of 
centry  ahead  just  as  well  as  money,  preferring  them 
— as  long  as  the  money  was  applied  to  things  they 
needed.  The  centry  thus  proved  to  be  the  most  ac- 
complished salesmen  commerce  had  ever  known,  and 
perhaps  the  greatest  of  all  labor-saving  devices.  Dif- 
fering however  from  all  other  such  inventions  they, 
instead  of  accelerating  abstention,  gave  it  its  final 
quietus. 

""With  all  the  advantages  accruing  from  consol- 
idation and  from  the  reduced  volume  of  the  mercan- 
tile stocks  to  be  carried,  and  the  saving  in  rents  and 
general  expenses  wrought  by  this  change ;  with  a  re- 
duction both  in  interest  rate  and  volume  of  capital 
required;  with  the  enormous  outlays  formerly  ex- 
pended in  efforts  to  get  trade  fairly  obliterated; 
and  with  the  losses  incurred  through  the  giving  of 
credit  and  the  assumption  of  all  sorts  of  competitive 
hazards  eliminated,  an  incalculable  saving  in  the 
interest  of  better  wages  and  lower  prices  had  been 
achieved.  Managers  also  earned  more  than  before, 
all  grades  of  work  being  better  rewarded.  The  ex- 
travagances which  were  good  management  under 
commercialism,  were  utterly  superfluous  under  Cen- 
trism. 

"Accompanying  the  gradual  rise  in  wages,  cap- 
ital was  fast  losing  its  grip — both  the  margin  of 
profits  and  the  interest  rate  steadily  falling  until 
not  only  the  zero  mark  was  reached,  but  until  a 
bonus  often  as  high  as  five  per  cent,  was  paid  for  the 
return  in  full  of  the  amounts  borrowed.  This  op- 
plied  to  non-profit  investments.  It  represented  snr- 


The  Making  of  a  Millennium. 


plus  wealth  which  the  owner  was  not  ready  to  use 
and  which  he  could  not  store  in  any  other  way  with- 
out greater  loss.  Men  who  owned  excessive  wealth 
which  it  would  take  years  to  consume,  netted 
very  little  out  of  their  excess  portion,  for  in  twenty 
years  it  would  eat  itself  out  in  cost  of  preserva- 


Wages  Upward;  Profits  Coming  Down. 

tion.  As  it  was  they  preferred  selling  such  prop- 
erties on  long  time  without  interest  and  at  figures 
that  were  low  in  proportion  to  the  time  covered. 
They  thus  received  all  and  much  more  for  it  than 
it  was  worth  as  a  surplus  product.  Under  capitalism, 
labor  had  been  made  largely  a  surplus  product,  for 
want  of  distinguishing  between  consumer  and  ab- 
stainer, and  it  had  suffered  gross  undervaluation. 


The  Great  Transition  Era.  138 

"In  the  meantime,  the  large  surplus  funds  ac- 
cumulating in  the  hands  of  employes;  the  smaller 
volume  of  stocks  required  for  business;  the  help  of 
prepayments  and  liberation  from  the  necessity  to 
give  credits;  the  far  greater  ease  of  getting  busi- 
ness, and  the  greater  difficulty  profit-making  estab- 
lishments had  in  securing  employes;  all  these  in- 
fluences combined  to  enable  employes  to  acquire, 
usually  through  purchase,  establishments  of  their 
own  operated  on  the  cost  basis.  Controlling  their 
own  labor,  they  now  had  control  of  the  situation,  and 
by  degrees  the  co-operative  stores  entirely  super- 
seded those  run  on  a  profit  basis. 

"Curious  institutions  in  the  shape  of  centry 
banks  now  came  into  existence  to  accommodate  the 
needs  of  persons  wishing  to  sell  properties  who  were 
short  in  their  supply  of  centry.  It  scarcely  concerned 
the  general  public,  the  shorts  having  to  pay  the 
longs  interest  in  money  or  centry  for  their  use,  vary- 
ing from  five  to  ten  per  cent,  per  annum.  •  People 
often  availed  themselves  of  these  banks  when  saving 
with  a  view  to  some  exceptionally  large  future  ex- 
penditure. 

"In  order  that  the  change  might  not  cause  any 
hardships  to  persons  who  were  unable  to  work, 
whom  the  benefits  of  the  system  could  not  directly 
reach,  the  government  provided  liberal  annuities  for 
them.  Provision  was  also  made  to  convert  the  prop- 
erties of  dependent  widows  and  orphans  into  gov- 
ernment annuities  on  a  basis  that  would  prevent 
them  from  suffering  loss  through  the  downfall  of  the 
profit  system.  A  widows  and  orphans  annuity  con- 
tract was  also  provided,  purchasable  at  rates  cal- 
culated by  skilled  actuaries,  so  that  such  benefi- 


134  The  Making  of  a  Millennium. 

ciaries  of  insurance  might  avail  themselves  thereof; 
and  steps  were  also  taken  to  unify  all  insurance  com- 
panies and  associations  under  one  management, 
levying  a  uniform  rate  such  as  would  cover  the  cost 
of  the  current  death  payments  from  year  to  year  and 
would  exclude  none  from  the  benefits,— a  condition 
impossible  to  private  associations  and  feasible  only 
under  governmental  or  united  management.  The 
percentage  of  bad  risks  does  not  vary  much  in  the 
whole  body  of  society,  but  a  single  company  accept- 
ing them  would  repel  the  good  and  draw  the  bad 
ones,  to  its  inevitable  ruin.  The  insurance  was  also 
made  compulsory  in  a  minimum  amount  propor- 
tional to  each  man's  earnings.  The  protection  to 
the  widow  and  orphan  should  be  universal  and  not 
confined  to  a  limited  number. 

1  'Through  the  use  of  centry  commerce  was  thus 
completely  revolutionized  and  reduced  to  a  rational 
simplicity  and  a  degree  of  freedom  and  reliability 
in  striking  contrast  with  its  former  delusive  and  en- 
snaring tyrannies.'-' 

MANUFACTURING  ESTABLISHMENTS. 

"Will  you  tell  us  now,  Mr.  Burton,"  our  tutor 
asked,  "what  effect  Centrism  had  upon  the  manu- 
facturing industries'?" 

"It  ended  the  career  of  monopoly  prices,"  re- 
plied the  Bostonian.  "Competition  had  previously 
been  merely  spasmodic,  seldom  penetrating  below 
the  level  of  the  prices  dictated  by  abstinence-born 
monopoly.  Centrism  was  destroying  the  source  of 
monopoly,  its  prices  sinking  gradually  to  the  level 
of  cost.  The  sham  competition  of  capitalism  was  giv- 
ing way  to  the  real  competition  of  Centrism  which 


The  Great  Transition  Era.  135 

drove  profits  to  zero  and  raised  wages  to  the  full 
measure  of  production.  Monopoly  prices  accom- 
panied with  spasmodic  competition  had  scattered 
trade  promiscuously  from  one  end  of  the  land  to  the 
other,  obliging  each  competitor  to  cover  ten  fold  the 
territory  needed,  and  to  reach  ten  fold  the  num- 
ber of  dealers;  this  was  mainly  due  to  cutting 
prices  and  meeting  competition  mainly  at  remote 
points  in  which  they  were  at  a  disadvantage  to  their 
rivals.  When  the  accelerated  trade  produced  by 
Centrism  found  them  unable  to  fill  orders,  and  caused 
buyers  to  press  for  precedence,  it  at  once  became 
apparent  that  further  expenditures  in  the  getting  of 
trade  could  be  almost  entirely  curtailed,  and  that 
more  expenditures  must  be  made  in  the  getting  of 
operatives,  the  number  of  employes  being  an  absolute 
limit  to  the  amount  of  trade  to  be  handled.  The  get- 
ting of  orders  counted  for  little ;  the  getting  of  help 
was  everything.  The  wage  worker  was  king,  and 
wages  went  on  rising  as  the  evolution  proceeded. 
What  trade  the  manufacturer  had  lost  in  remote 
regions  he  more  than  regained  in  contiguous  trade 
surrendered  by  remote  manufacturers,  thereby 
greatly  reducing  the  circle  of  territory  to  be  covered 
without  any  loss  in  its  volume. 

''Accompanying  these  changes  a  large  number 
of  operatives  organized  co-operative  establishments, 
finding  good  locations  in  interior  regions  where— 
within  an  ample  radius — they  had  every  advantage 
over  competitors,  being  able  to  acquire  lands  at  nom- 
inal figures  and  to  deal  direct  with  the  farmer  for 
their  household  supplies.  Many  of  these  migrated 
from  the  larger  cities,  relieving  much  of  their  con- 
gestion and  also  helping  to  lower  the  exorbitant  rents 


136  The  Making  of  a  Millennium. 

and  land  prices.  These  establishments  were  also 
operated  on  the  cost  basis,  as  required  of  all  new  es- 
tablishments;  and  these,  owing  to  the  fact  that  op- 
eratives were  rapidly  acquiring  surplus  funds,  su- 
perseded the  profit  establishments. 

EFFECT   ON  CITY  LANDS. 

' '  The  effect  upon  the  prices  of  city  lands, ' '  said 
Mr.  Carson  in  response  to  another  query,  "was  to 
produce  a  gradual  decline,  continuing  until  nothing 
was  left  of  the  former  values  but  the  improve- 
ments." 

"That  was  a  strange  phenomenon.  Can  you  ex- 
plain it?"  was  asked. 

"I  will  endeavor  to  do  so,"  the  former  steel 
magnate  responded.  "When  all  further  investment 
in  lands  for  speculation  or  for  revenue-yielding  was 
debarred,  two  factors  helped  to  prevent  a  rapid  an- 
nihilation of  land  values.  One  was  the  fact  that  the 
advantages  for  social,  shopping  or  manufacturing 
utility  inhering  in  their  particular  localities  had  not 
been  altered;  and  the  other  was  the  fact  that  the 
multitude  now  began  to  accumulate  large  funds 
which  were  applied  to  the  purchase  of  homes  and 
sites.  These  funds  were  soon  utilized  in  forming 
home-acquiring  associations,  in  which  each  contrib- 
utor became  a  proportional  stockholder,  and  through 
which  they  began  to  acquire  suburban  acreage  upon 
which  to  erect  homes  in  groups.  By  this  method 
of  operation  they  were  able  to  occupy  settled  local- 
ities affording  advantages  they  could  not  otherwise 
have  secured  except  at  much  higher  purchase  prices. 
Not  only  did  they  effect  a  large  saving  thus  in  the 
purchase  price  of  the  land,  but  they  were  able  to 


The  Great  Transition  Era.  137 

build  in  this  manner  at  a  decidedly  lower  cost.  As 
these  groups  increased  in  number,  and  as  congestion 
was  being  relieved  by  emigration  to  country  dis- 
tricts, they  reduced  the  prices  of  both  rents  and 
properties  in  the  cities,  gradually  driving  them  to  a 
point  at  which  no  value  was  left,  apart  from  the  im- 
provements, 'and  the  cost  of  their  perpetuation  was 
all  that  remained  incorporated  in  the  rents. 

''A  similar  fate  overtook  business  lots  and  busi- 
ness rents.  This  was  due  to  the  elimination  of  the 
smaller  middlemen  and  to  the  reduction  of  the  re- 
dundant and  excessively  large  stocks  carried  by  mer- 
chants, now  requiring  less  room;  and  the  fact  of 
no  longer  being  so  dependent  on  locality  for  the  get- 
ting of  business,  also  facilitated  the  fall  in  these 
rents  and  prices. 

EFFECT  OF  THE  FAEM. 

"Miss  Oswald  will  now  enlighten  us  as  to  the 
effect  Centrism  had  upon  the  agricultural  inter- 
ests, ' '  Mr.  Blake  now  announced. 

"Upon  the  farm,  as  in  other  industries,  Cen- 
trism inaugurated  a  better  state  of  affairs,"  re- 
sponded the  fair  socialist.  ' '  The  wages  of  farm  labor 
rose  responsive  to  the  general  advance  in  the  price 
of  labor,  by  degrees  approximating  so  nearly  to  the 
gross  returns  as  to  leave  but  little  for  the  proprietor 
apart  from  the  enhanced  value  of  his  own  labor  and 
superintendence.  The  mere  fact  of  owning  lands 
made  little  difference  in  the  net  returns.  They  net- 
ted more  for  their  produce  now  than  ever  before, 
for  their  trade  was  becoming  constantly  more  direct 
—the  consumer  depending  less  upon  the  middle- 
man's credit,  and  the  number  of  middlemen  being 


138  The  Making  of  a  Millennium. 

greatly  reduced;  and  the  purchasers  had  also  now 
more  means  than  ever  with  which  to  buy.  The  pas- 
sing of  the  middleman  far  more  than  compensated 
the  conversion  of  profits  into  wages ;  it  not  only  en- 
hanced the  net  earnings  of  the  farm,  but  enhanced 
both  wages  and  superintendence  in  a  still  greater  de- 
gree. Thus,  as  I  have  already  said,  the  mere  own- 
ership of  lands  was  netting  constantly  less  and  less. 
"Accompanying  the  elimination  of  profits,  land 
values  naturally  began  a  downward  course,  proprie- 
tors selling  small  tracts  of  their  surplus  acreage  at 
low  figures — its  tillage  with  hired  help  no  longer 
having  the  attraction  it  formerly  had;  intensive 
farming  and  the  breeding  of  superior  grades  of 
stock  also  stimulated  this  tendency.  As  a  conse- 
quence, many  farms  remote  from  markets,  on  which 
a  bare  existence  was  all  the  reward  labor  met  apart 
from  the  expectation  of  a  rise  in  the  land  value, 
were  abandoned  in  favor  of  these  small  tracts  nearer 
to  markets.  Others  from  towns  and  cities  migrated 
to  these  tracts;  and  as  these  regions  naturally  be- 
came more  thickly  settled  and  the  cost  of  improve- 
ments could  be  divided  between  a  larger  number  of 
persons  who  also  had  more  surplus  means  at  their 
disposal,  it  brought  many  material  improvements,  in 
roadways  and  walks,  in  water,  heating  and  lighting 
facilities,  in  sewerage,  in  rapid  transit  lines  and  in 
numerous  other  conveniences.  The  labor  of  con- 
struction and  maintenance  of  these  improvements, 
together  with  the  accession  of  manufacturing  plants 
from  the  cities  responsive  to  the  greater  facilities 
promised  by  the  improvements,  brought  producer 
and  consumer  into  still  closer  touch,  and  by  its  larger 
purchasing  power  lowered  the  cost  of  the  service 


The  Great  Transition  Era.  139 

in  the  local  cost  store.  The  farmer  could  now  buy 
cheaper  and  sell  dearer  than  ever  before ;  but  he  was 
not  doing  it  at  the  expense  of  a  half  or  quarter 
paid  hired  help. ' ' 

Thus,  from  remote  regions  inward,  and  from 
congested  districts  outward,  a  vast  redistribution  of 
population  had  begun,  impelled  by  individual  in- 
terest and  controlled  by  healthy  economic  relations. 
Its  result  was  in  time  to  completely  remodel  both 
city  and  country,  locating  people  at  the  points  of 
greatest  productive  economy. 

In  the  cities  the  elimination  of  land  values  re- 
moved one  of  the  most  stubborn  obstacles  to  the  pro- 
gressive enhancement  of  the  design  and  utility  in 
the  allignment  and  grouping  of  its  structures. 

The  elimination'  of  land  values  also  removed 
one  of  the  foremost  obstacles  to  co-operative  farm- 
ing, which  eventually  came  into  vogue  and  finally  al- 
together superseded  isolated  effort.  Isolated  farm- 
ing had  held  its  own  merely  at  the  expense  or  its  un- 
paid hired  help. 

Both  in  city  and  country  homes  were  now  built 
in  groups  that  co-operated  in  varying  degrees,  out 
of  which  gradually  evolved  our  present  templism 
with  its  specialization  of  all  branches  of  housework, 
some  of  them  performed  by  males. 


CHAPTER  X. 
To  Edenize  the  Outworld. 

"Light  is  the  one  thing  wanted  for  the  world.  Put  wisdom  in 
the  head  of  the  world,  the  world  will  fight  its  battle  victoriously, 
and  be  the  best  world  man  can  make  it." — Carlyle. 

Ever  since  the  inauguration  of  Centrism  the 
Templorians  had  felt  a  serious  longing  to  communi- 
cate the  glad  tidings  of  its  success  to  the  outworld. 
All  their  endeavors,  however,  to  penetrate  the  so- 
porific barrier  had  unfortunately  proven  futile,  and 
often  disastrous.  The  last  experiments  attempted 
had  been  a  series  of  tunnels  bored  at  a  great  depth, 
designed  to  emerge  upon  one  of  the  numerous  is- 
lands lying  beyond  the  impenetrable  belt.  A  single 
one  of  these  tunnels,  opening  from  a  place  in  the 
suburbs  of  Bed  Cross,  was  still  in  progress  of  con- 
struction at  the  time  of  our  advent, — the  others  hav- 
ing long  been  abandoned,  and  the  project  regarded 
as  a  forlorn  hope. 

Imagine  therefore  the  excitement  and  furore  oc- 
casioned when  the  report  one  day  came  into  circu- 
lation that  a  practical  outlet  had  been  achieved.  It 
is  true  the  bore  of  this  tunnel  would  require  consid- 
erable additional  work  before  it  would  be  fit  for 
practical  use,  but  the  union  of  the  two  worlds  was 
nevertheless  regarded  as  an  accomplished  fact. 

The  whole  city  now  became  one  blaze  of  uproar ; 
and  as  the  reports  were  confirmed  and  the  momen- 
tousness  of  the  event  dawned  upon  men's  minds  it 
thrilled  their  hearts  with  an  indescribable  joy.  All 


To  Edenize  the  Outworld.  141 

Temploria  was  roused  to  a  pitch  of  the  utmost  en- 
thusiasm. The  daily  journals  everywhere  made  the 
event  conspicuous  through  mammoth  head  lines- 
something  unusual  to  their  style — and  their  columns 
rang  with  notes  of  jubilant  glee.  All  day  long  can- 
non boomed,  trumpets  resounded,  and  thrilling  mu- 
sic filled  the  air  along  the  parkways  and  in  the  tem- 
ples. All  places  were  thronged  with  joyous  multi- 
tudes, and  all  work  and  business  was  set  aside  in 
favor  of  merriment  and  festivity. 


The  Millennial  Symbol. 

*    • 

The  effect  of  the  news  upon  the  Falconers  was 
indescribable.  It  so  completely  turned  our  heads, 
we  acted  like  school  children  dismissed  for  a  holiday. 
As  the  wilder  excitement  subsided,  our  enthusiasm 
found  further  vent  in  an  irresistible  impulse  to  re- 
turn to  our  native  land  bearing  the  message  of  Cen- 
trism. 

Prompted  by  this  spirit,  our  class  was  soon  re- 
solved into  an  organization  we  called  the  "  Modern 
Crusade,"  and  in  our  zeal  for  the  cause  we  began 
at  once  to  discuss  all  phases  of  the  project,  not  over- 
looking that  of  securing  passage  on  the  first  vessel 
to  make  the  voyage.  Frequent  meetings  were  there- 
after held,  and  our  interest  in  the  cause  was  never 
permitted  to  lag.  We  even  designed  an  emblem  in 


142  The  Making  of  a  Millennium. 

the  form  of  a  balanced  scales  enclosed  within  a  cir- 
cle formed  of  alternate  coins  and  centry,  which  sym- 
bolized the  unbroken  continuity  of  trade,  and  full- 
product  values.  This  was  to  be  the  symbol  of  the 
millennial  era. 

IMPERATIVE  NEED  OF  CENTRISM. 

Mr.  Burton  urged  the  need  of  Centrism  in  the 
United  States  as  a  check  upon  further  financial  de- 
pression. He  charged  the  vacilating  state  of  its  in- 
dustries to  its  inefficient  currency,  its  redundant  cap- 
ital and  the  contamination  of  its  wealth  with  a  vast 
body  of  worthless  surplus  products  and  empty 
credits — the  latter  based  upon  profits  to  be  derived 
from  labor  as  yet  unperformed.  No  wonder  the 
goose  that  laid  the  golden  eggs  proved  a  delusion 
whenever  opened  for  inspection  to  see  if  its  enor- 
mous value  was  really  inside. 

Whenever  society  is  able  to 'dispense  with  law 
and  maintain  order  through  the  innate  righteousness 
of  man,  then  also  perhaps  will  it  be  able  to  belt  the 
wheels  of  commerce  with  hot  air  strings  and  with 
this  phantom  chord,  keep  them  moving  in  regular 
and  continuous  rotation.  But  until  that  day  arrives 
will  its  chimerical  mechanism  be  constantly  run- 
ning amuck.  It  wants  a  more  substantial  belt  than 
childish  confidence.  There  must  be  no  broken  cogs 
in  its  mechanism;  but  cog  against  cog — centry 
against  money — job  orders  in  return  for  commodity 
orders — must  reciprocate  the  transfer  of  commer- 
cial force  into  a  ceaseless  rotation.  Nor  is  its  al- 
chemy to  conjure  up  any  swarms  of  capitalistic 
harpies,  in  the  guise  of  service,  to  forever  gnaw  at 
its  chords  of  life.  It  must  purge  itself  of  delusions 


To  Edenize  the  Out  wo  rid. 


143 


and  break  through  the  crust  of  its  dark  insanity.  Its 
imbecility  and  darkness  are  not  a  perpetual  doom; 
they  are  phantoms  that  will  vanish  at  the  awaken- 
ing,— at  the  parting  of  the  true  from  the  false. 


Widow's  Mite  Is  Not  Spared. 


In  the  vortex  of  ruin  which  capitalism, — by  its 
successive  depressions — precipitates,  oceans  of 
wealth  shrink  and  melt  into  vapory  mist,  while  the 
sacred  hoards  of  plutocracy — stored  in  money, 
bonds  and  mortgages, — appreciate  in  purchasing 
power.  Not  even  stored  labor,  though  coined  into 
material  substance,  is  exempt  from  the  flames  of 
shrinkage.  They  are  subject  to  the  same  immutable 


144  The  Making  of  a  Millennium. 

law  that  refuses  to  impart  value  to  labor  in  the 
absence  of  demand  for  its  product.  Even  the  wid- 
ow's mite  is  devoured  by  the  remorseless  flames, 
which  know  no  discrimination  except  for  the  hoarded 
money  and  mortgages  of  the  modern  miser.  The 
blind  holocaust  of  financial  depression  knows  but  a 
harsh  equality;  and  the  hollow  eye  of  hunger  does 
not  separate  the  just  from  the  unjust. 

Let  no  man  delude  himself  into  the  thought  that 
mere  banking  laws  will  prevent  the  recurrence  of 
these  plagues  visited  upon  our  industrial  Egypt. 
Deeper  than  the  banks  lies  the  cause  of  these  ter- 
rible visitations.  Is  not  the  Israel  of  Labor  in  bond- 
age today  to  the  modern  Pharaoh1?  Well  then  for 
the  modern  Pharaoh  to  let  his  Israel  go — to  set  this 
people  free — to  restore  to  them  the  full  measure 
of  opportunity  belonging  to  freemen — to  consume 
his  surplus  wealth  and  beware  lest  it  continue  to 
bind  the  arms  and  brain  of  industry  with  its  insid- 
ious chains !  Were  the  banks  ever  so  safe,  these 
plagues  would  still  beset  us;  for  as  soon  as  prices 
cease  to  rise  begins  the  rush  for  money  and  its  quick 
coagulation  into  hoard.  Are  not  all  the  investment 
properties  of  capitalism  one  vast  bank  into  which 
men  deposit  their  money  by  buying  and  draw  again 
in  selling,  repeating  the  process  so  often  that  their 
credits  exceed  their  deposits  twenty  fold — a  bank 
that  can  in  no  way  pay  out  more  money  than  it  has 
available.  When  all  wish  to  draw  out  and  none 
to  pay  in,  its  doors  also  close — being  in  a  remote 
sense  the  bank  of  all  banks,  and  the  model  upon 
which  none  other  can  improve  except  in  semblance, 
when  harping  on  the  strings  of  confidence. 


To  Edenize  the  Outworld. 


145 


Why  should  the  wisdom,  the  foresight  and  the 
character  of  the  American  citizen  expose  his  country 
to  the  prolongation  or  the  repetition  of  such  catas- 
trophes? Why  longer  tolerate  such  criminal  care- 
lessness in  its  industrial  organism?  Why  put  up 
with  an  industrial  fabric  that  seeks  to  sustain  the 


The  Bridge  of  Confidence. 

welfare  of  the  world  on  a  single  thread  of  clumsy 
basting, — a  thread  whose  snapping  in  any  part  of 
the  globe  will  throw  the  entire  body  into  convulsions 
—a  mere  thread  of  wax  which  a  shadow  of  doubt  can 
melt?  Small  satisfaction  the  financial  wreck  derives 
to  know  that  the  snapping  thread  by  which  he  was 
dropped  into  the  abyss  of  ruin  had  a  golden  tinge! 
Small  satisfaction  is  it  to  the  penniless  man  to  know 
that  the  invisible  coin  had  not  been  melted  in  the  fires 


146  The  Making  of  a  Millennium. 

of  dissolution — that  each  blessed  gold  piece  was 
still  sound  and  would  reappear  with  merry  jingle  in 
the  industrial  resurrection  that  was  to  come ! 

Why  should  a  civilized  nation — a  nation  claim- 
ing to  be  Christian  in  spirit — neglect  the  property  of 
the  consumer  in  the  opportunities  his  consuming 
creates — a  property  on  whose  recognition  the  prop- 
erty of  the  product  of  his  hand  and  brain — his  wage 
— depends?  Why  not  give  all  property  its  due  pro- 
tection, and  not  merely  one  form — the  bulk  of  which 
is  composed  of  the  fruit  of  predatory  plunder?  Is 
not  a  man's  wage  his  property?  Why  then  should 
its  pillage  be  tolerated,  and  property  be  made  of 
the  very  plunder  torn  from  it?  What  sort  of  title 
can  there  be  to  acquisition  obtained  without  effort 
of  hand  or  brain — obtained  through  the  pillage  of 
other  men's  labor?  Is  it  merely  this  questionable 
form  of  "property"  for  which  the  solicitude  of  the 
law  is  to  be  invoked  and  its  strong  arm  raised? 

HOURS  AND  PRICES. 

Doctor  Remington  rejoiced  in  the  fact  that  Cen- 
trism  would  allow  men  full  liberty  to  work  as  few  or 
as  many  hours  as  they  chose — no  man's  hours  pre- 
venting his  neighbor  from  enjoying  the  same  liberty. 
The  man  who  would  work  more  hours  must  consume 
proportionately  more  and  therefore  cause  a  propor- 
tional increase  in  the  amount  of  work  available. 

The  same  freedom  would  also  apply  to  the  price 
at  which  a  man  offered  his  services,  since  the  amount 
of  labor  he  could  possibly  offer  would  be  limited  by 
the  amount  of  his  consuming.  His  cheaper  labor 
could  not  substitute  that  of  others,  and  therefore 
could  not  affect  the  labor  of  others  detrimentally,— 


To  Edenize  the  Outworld. 


147 


on  the  contrary  enabling  them  to  buy  necessities  at 
a  lower  figure.  By  the  use  of  centry  all  trade  was 
obliged  to  comply  with  the  test  of  balancing,  and 
goods  offered  at  low  figures  meant  what  they  said.' 
They  could  not  be  worthless  surplus  products,  or 


EVERY  MANS 
MARKET  IS  AS 
BIG  AS  HE 
MAKES 


His  Centry  Measures  His  Market. 

virtual  gold  bricks,  which  like  thefts  may  be  a  gain 
to  the  individual,  but  which,  like  mutual  thieveries, 
would  be  mutually  disastrous. 

Every  man  was  to  be  guaranteed  a  market  as 
large  as  the  amount  of  his  consuming- — a  market  he 
could  expand  o"r  contract  according  to  his  will,  and 
one  also  that  no  one  else  could  invade.  To  whatever 


148  The  Making  of  a  Millennium. 

race  lie  belonged,  oriental  or  occidental,  whatever 
his  color,  creed,  previous  nationality,  sectional  or 
other  distinction,  he  stood  upon  a  pedestal  of  inde- 
pendence that  was  not  to  be  shaken.  His  full  meas- 
ure of  opportunity  and  his  full  wage  were  equally  in- 
violable. 

REFUGE  ZONES. 

Mrs.  Luzby  believed  that  through  the  deflation 
of  land  values  ultimately  ensuing  new  territorial  al- 
lignments  would  result,  leaving  vacant  large  tracts 
that  would  become  available  for  special  colonization 
or  as  zones  of  refuge  for  classes  seeking  to  escape 
odious  environments.  Such  tracts  would  also  offer 
means  for  various  experiments  of  a  scientific  or  so- 
ciological nature. 

THE  CRUSADE  FOR  CENTRISM. 

' '  The  first  step  in  our  crusade, ' '  remarked  Cap- 
tain Clark,  "will  be  to  conduct  an  educational  cam- 
paign in  behalf  of  Centrism,  distributing  literature, 
delivering  speeches  and  utilizing  every  possible  man- 
ner of  demonstration  by  which  to  attract  attention 
to  the  cause. 

"We  shall  particularly  appeal  to  the  President 
and  to  Congress,  inviting  attention  to  the  defects 
of  our  currency  and  the  abuses  to  which  it  subjects 
the  workingman,  as  well  as  the  complications  with 
foreign  powers  threatened  by  arbitrary  defense  of 
our  markets.  Abstention  is  indisputably  a  restraint 
of  trade,  the  remedy  for  which  is  in  the  province  of 
Congress  to  apply  through  -the  institution  of  an 
ample  currency  system.  The  unrestrained  counter- 


To  Edenize  the  Outworld.  149 

felting  of  values  to  which  the  present  currency  sub- 
jects the  consumer,  as  well  as  the  danger  of  financial 
catastrophe  in  which  it  places  the  nation,  makes  it 
imperative  that  early  and  prompt  action  be  taken. 
It  is  not  necessary  for  Congress  to  delay  until  the 
last  embers  of  the  financial  holocaust  have  been  ex- 
tinguished. Its  powers  are  defined,  and  in  the  face 
of  necessity,  are  imperative  duties.  It  is  not  neces- 
sary for  it  to  wait  until  the  thunder  of  the  popular 
will  drive  it  to  action.  The  rumble  of  that  thunder 
is  already  echoed  in  the  powers  assigned  to  it  and 
the  duties  incumbent  upon  it.  Let  it  not  turn  a  deaf 
ear  to  the  cry  of  humanity  whose  call  began  from 
the  clouds  of  Sinai,  from  the  Mount  of- Olives  and 
from  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  demanding 
justice  and  the  privilege  to  pursue  unmolested  the 
blessings  of  life,  liberty  and  happiness.  Congress 
need  not  wait  for  further  instruction.  So  far  as  in 
its  power  lies,  its  plain  duty  is  to  regulate  trade,  and 
as  a  sentinel,  to  guard  it  against  all  unrighteous  re- 
straint and  all  catastrophe  that  can  be  prevented. 

"The  appeal  to  Congress  will  not  preclude  any 
state  government  desiring  protection  to  inaugurate 
at  home  the  system  of  Centrism,  since  neither  centry 
nor  money,  issued  to  operate  inseparably,  can  by  any 
manner  of  strain  be  construed  as  a  bill  of  credit. ' ' 

POPULAR  REFORMS. 

Regarding  projects  of  municipal  or  government 
ownership,  it  was  deemed  inadvisable  to  consider 
them  apart  from  the  proposition  of  Centrism.  They 
particularly  cautioned  against  the  steam  power  rail- 
roads which  they  thought  obsolete  and  doomed  to  be 
superseded.  The  tendency  under  Centrism  would  be 


150  The  Making  of  a  Millennium. 

toward  short  hauls  and  short  trips,  and  the  demand 
would  be  for  frequent  and  regular  trains  as  well  as 
a  degree  of  cleanliness  such  as  would  attract  instead 
of  repelling  residence,  along  the  way.  Aside  from 
these  facts,  these  giants  would  be  shorn  of  their  in- 
iquitous power  under  Centrism  and  would  cease  to 
menace  the  integrity  of  government. 

As  to  trusts,  these  also  would  be  shorn  of  their 
power  for  evil,  the  longer  Centrism  was  in  force.  The 
trust  is  merely  a  gnat  bred  in  the  slough  of  cap- 
italism, and  the  right  way  to  slap  it  is  to  drain  the 
slough.  What  a  deal  of  quibbling  there  is  over 
the  manner  in  which  our  dear  wage  earner  is  to  be 
fleeced — whether  by  a  visible  four-ounce-to-the- 
pound  supply  and  demand  value  scales,  or  by  an  in- 
visible one — apparently  an  arbitrary  dictation  of 
prices,  but  nevertheless  one  profiting  mainly  out  of 
salvage  derived  by  obviating  redundancy  in  methods. 
Its  dictations  are  seldom  if  ever  absolute ;  for  it  has 
to  contend  with  the  ghosts  of  dead  rivals  threaten- 
ing to  materialize,  new  rivals  seeking  birth  in  the 
accumulating  redundancy  of  capital,  the  ghosts  of 
reduced  demand,  importations,  substitutes,  and 
lastly  even  confiscation  in  the  event  of  glaring  of- 
fenses. You  may  kill  open  competition,  but  not  the 
ghosts — the  invisible  forces  that  arise  out  of  the 
depths  of  capitalism  and  persist  in  the  deadly,  sui- 
cidal tendencies  inherited  from  mother  capital  her- 
self and  which  will  keep  on  asserting  themselves  as 
long  as  the  mother  evil  lasts. 

It  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  back  of  the 
trusts  is  the  greater  evil  of  capitalism;  and  back  of 
this  evil  is  the  freedom  of  repudiation,  or  privileged 
hoarding,  whose  derangements,  throttling  industry, 


To  Edenize  the  Outworld.  151 

make  even  capitalism  as  a  rule  preferable.  No 
amount  of  moon-baying  fury  nor  of  arbitrary  sup- 
pressions, will  much  avail,  unless  hoarding  itself  is 
checked;  and  nothing  short  of  Centrism  will  effect- 
ually do  this. 

As  to  the  project  known  as  Single  Tax,  by  which 
taxes  were  to  be  withdrawn  from  all  other  forms  of 
property  and  imposed  upon  lands,  this  was  demon- 
strated to  be  futile,  merely  scotching  the  snake,  but 
not  killing  it  or  materially  helping.  Land  ownership 
is  merely  an  objective — a  receptacle  for  the  accumu- 
lating funds  of  capitalism,  but  far  from  being  the 
only  receptacle.  Were  this  receptacle  closed,  re- 
dundant loans  and  material  capitalistic  investments 
would  simply  multiply  the  more.  The  license  of  ab- 
stention, which  is  the  source  of  monopoly,  would  not 
be  checked, — its  outlet  being  diverted  but  not 
stopped ;  for  land  is  economically  but  water,  and  this 
substantial  barrier  to  production  is  but  the  shadow  of 
monopoly — the  real  barrier  being  the  possession  of 
the  means  by  which  to  purchase  it  and  the  opportun- 
ity through  which  its  purchase  price  as  well  as  other 
requirements  to  industrial  independence  were  to  be 
acquired. 

HISTORY  REPEATED. 

In  the  temple  of  modern  industrialism  capital  is 
the  money  changer  defiling  its  sanctuary.  What  is 
to  be  done  with  this  sacrilegious  intruder — this 
abomination  of  desolation  ? 

Will  this  ungainly  behemoth  recognize  his  utter 
unfitness  there — the  pollution  of  his  presence  in  the 
sacred  precincts  of  this  temple  of  life!  Will  he  re- 
tire peaceably  and  becomingly?  Or  will  he  intrench 


152  The  Making  of  a  Millennium. 

behind  the  wall  of  his  financial  power  and  convert  it 
into  a  barricade  of  absolutism1?  Will  he  engage  in 
intrigue  to  precipitate  foreign  war,  and  seek  under 
the  protection  of  foreign  power  to  extend  his  base 
dominion?  Will  he  possibly  take  refuge  behind  the 
methods  of  Russian  despotism  and  repeat  the  blood- 
curdling atrocities  that  gave  birth  to  the  second 
French  empire? 

Failing  to  meet  the  charges  involved  in  Cen- 
trism,  the  efforts  of  the  capitalist  to  perpetuate  the 
system  would  make  of  him  an  abettor  of  thievery 
and  crime.  His  offense  would  no  longer  constitute 
a  mere  blind  struggle  in  behalf  of  a  faulty  and  erring 
system,  but  a  deliberate  and  willful  act — a  crime 
no  less  odious  and  culpable  for  its  insidious  method, 
its  gigantic  proportions  or  the  hoary  antiquity  of  its 
parentage. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  as  to  where  the  majority 
of  capitalists  and  their  apologists  will  stand.  They 
will  repudiate  conscious  and  voluntary  brigandage. 
Great  wrongs  can  only  thrive  where  a  realization  of 
their  existence  is  either  totally  absent  or  very  much 
obscured;  but  when  the  wrong  is  made  so  over- 
whelmingly palpable  as  in  this  case,  honorable  men 
will  part  with  its  company.  They  can  afford  to  lend 
it  neither  countenance  nor  support. 

The  identification  of  capitalism  with  property  is 
no  longer  tenable.  The  very  antithesis  of  property, 
its  acts  are  one  succession  of  aggressions  upon  the 
opportunities  of  men  and  the  products  of  their  labor. 
Nor  is  capital 'longer  to  be  identified  with  either  in- 
dustrial or  social  order,  being  a  source  of  endless 
strife  and  discord — a  vein  of  destructive  antagonism 
coursing  through  the  arteries  of  commerce  like  a 


To  Edenize  the  Outworld.  153 

stream  of  venom.  It  can  lay  no  possible  claim  as 
either  a  courier  of  progress  or  a  harbinger  of  peace. 
Blockading  industry  at  every  step,  it  acts  as  a  dead- 
lock upon  an  incalculable  volume  of  the  world's 
latent  vitalities,  and  is  forever  pitting  man  against 
man  and  nation  against  nation  in  bloody  and  piti- 
less conflict. 

Capital  in  commerce  is  the  essence  of  anarchy — 
a  perpetual  rebellion  against  industrial  law  which, 
were  it  knowingly  and  willfully  persisted  in,  would 
put  it  upon  no  higher  plane  than  border  lawless- 
ness. 

For  ages  the  industrial  world  has  lingered  in 
the  dark  shadows  of  this  borderland,  the  outskirts 
of  a  new  order — an  order  dimly  foreshadowed  by 
the  prophets  of  old  and  by  the  great  minds  of  all 
ages;  and  now,  as  the  light  comes  breaking  through 
its  cloudy  canopy,  the  message  can  be  clearly  read 
bidding  adieu  to  its  long  reign  of  power  and  plunder. 
The  flaming  sword  will  no  longer  exclude  mankind 
from  its  inheritance.  The  inward  gate  has  been  lo- 
cated, and  through  this  gate  humanity  will  triumph- 
antly march  into  its  nobler  paradise. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

Where  Art  Thou,  Adam? 

"We  are  very  slightly  changed 

From  the  semi-apes  who  ranged 
India's  prehistoric  clay; 

Whoso  drew  the  longest  bow, 

Ran  his  brother  down,  you  know, 
As  we  run  men  down  today. 

—Kipling. 

Mr.  Carson  was  the  only  member  of  the  Falcon- 
ers not  in  full  accord  with  the  purpose  of  the  pro- 
jected crusade.  He  had  joined  the  Modern  Crusade, 
not  for  the  sake  of  spreading  its  gospel,  but  in  order 
to  facilitate  the  recovery  of  his  former  millions 
which  now  stood  in  the  foreground  of  his  thoughts. 
A  regular  attendant  of  their  meetings,  he  differed 
with  their  views  and  motives,  unconsciously  acquir- 
ing a  strong  and  positive  aversion  to  Centrism  as 
his  prospective  affluence  became  more  assuring. 

Upon  one  occasion,  nevertheless,  hearing  the 
American  protective  system  lauded  as  the  cradle  of 
Centrism,  his  former  ardor  as  a  protectionist  was 
aroused,  drawing  from  his  lips  an  unqualified  en- 
dorsement of  the  Temporian  system.  "Protection," 
said  he,  "was  the  first  movement  to  repel  spurious 
surplus  products.  It  recognized  the  displacement  of 
labor  through  the  admission  of  spurious  products 
and  the  delusion  of  their  cheapness.  It  rejected  the 
price  standards  of  foreign  markets, — clinging  rather 
to  its  own  standard,  derived  from  its  larger  meas- 
ure of  available  opportunity.  It  challenged  the  pro- 


155 

priety  of  buying  by  price  only,  and  it  treated  the 
home  market  as  the  property  of  the  nation ;  and  time 
has  demonstrated  the  wisdom  of  its  conclusions." 

''I  admit  the  protective  principle  is  the  germ  of 
Centrism,"  followed  Mr.  Oswald,  "yet  we  must  not 
forget  that  early  Jewish,  Roman  and  Christian  laws, 
in  their  attitude  against  usury;  and  the  lofty  and 
broad  ideals  of  socialism,  were  also  torchbearers  of 
the  new  creed." 

"The  doctrine  of  protection,"  resumed  the 
Philadelphian,  "has  lifted  our  American  industries 
to  a  pedestal  of  matchless  glory.  From  the  dark- 
ness of  obscurity  it  has 'placed  us  in  the  foremost 
rank  among  nations.  What  a  grand  achievement !  I 
shall  be  indebted  to  it  as  long. as  I  live." 

"You  have  reason  enough  to  be  proud  of  this 
system,"  responded  Grandpa  Zeke,  who  happened 
to  be  present,  "but  if  your  people  wish  to  be  con- 
sistent in  their  loyalty  to  protection,  let  them  extend 
its  mantle,  and  protect  the  market  of  each  individual 
consumer.  Let  them  adopt  Centrism!  Why  should 
you  repel  the  industrial  venom  of  surplus  products 
coming  from  abroad  and  meanwhile  permit  its  viru- 
lent poison  to  be  injected  without  restriction  at 
home!  Why  also  stop  with  a  communistic  home 
market  whose  opportunities  are  merely  the  collec- 
tive property  of  the  nation,  but  to  which  the  con- 
sumers have  no  title  proportional  to  their  individual 
consuming?  If  it  is  good  for  the  individual  nation 
it  is  no  less  good  for  the  individual  citizen  whose 
consuming  has  produced  it.  I  would  therefore  sug- 
gest that  you  complete  your  protective  system  and 
individualize  your  home  market!" 


156  The  Making  of  a  Millennium. 

"Individualize  the  home  market!  Inaugurate 
Centrism!  Not  while  my  name  is  Joseph  Carson!" 
the  staunch  protectionist  vigorously  responded. 
"Are  not  our  people  prosperous  enough?  There  is 
no  need  of  Centrism  in  America !  Humph,  I'm  not  re- 
turning for  the  purpose  of  dissipating  my  fortune; 
nor  to  spend  the  last  penny  of  my  half  million  in- 
come !  I  can  live  sumptuously  on  ten  per  cent,  of  it, 
and  the  rest — I  can  invest  profitably,  I  guess!  I'd 
be  a  fool  to  want  Centrism.  I'd  simply  have  to  spend 
all  my  income ;  and  forbidden  to  place  any  in  new  in- 
vestments, my  properties  would  by  degrees  dissi- 
pate themselves — leaving  me  pauperized!  It's  likely 
I  'd  advocate  Centrism,  isn  't  it  ? 

"What  was  it,  by  the  way,  the  ant  said  to  the 
cricket!  'You  chirped  gaily  in  the  summer  while  I 
was  busy  gathering  stores ;  my  stores  are  all  in  now, 
and  I  wouldn't  mind  lending  you  a  bite  occasionally 
—whenever  I  can  see  a  safe  return  and  a  little  profit 
guaranteed.'  The  ant's  reply  was  very  good,  and  I 
make  the  same  reply  to  Centrism. ' ' 

"Centrism  accepts  your  reply,"  retorted  the 
Templorian.  "You  offer  to  lend  products,  but  you 
forget  that  Centrism  does  not  ask  for  loans.  On  the 
contrary,  it  requests  the  return  of  loans  long  over- 
due. You  have  lost  sight  of  the  music  the  crickets 
furnished  while  you  were  storing  provisions.  It's 
their  turn  now  to  store  while  you  return  the  music 
you  borrowed.  This  music  of  consuming,  you  can- 
not deny,  has  a  real  value;  it  represents  demand— 
the  biggest  part  of  value,  as  values  go  under 
commercialism — and  having  benefited  from  it, 
it  is  no  more  than  right  it  should  be  re- 
turried.  We  are  not  longing  to  have  any  more  debt 


Where  Art  Thou,  Adam?  157 

links  added  to  our  chain  of  bondage;  our  aim  is  to 
shorten  this  chain  until  there  is  nothing'  left  of  it. 
Eemember  also  that  this  'borrowed'  music  will  be- 
come stolen  music  if  its  return  is  refused.  Centrism 
extends  the  domain  of  the  command  'thou  shalt  not 
steal.'  " 

"Who  would  consider  such  a  wholesale  dispos- 
session as  Centrism  would  produce,"  protested  the 
former  steel  magnate.  "We  capitalists  would  never 
give  it  "our  consent." 

' '  You  certainly  do  not  mean  what  you  say,  Mr. 
Carson,"  Grandpa  Zeke  reproachfully  answered. 
"You  would  not  refuse  consent  to  a  project  at  once  so 
wholesome  and  just!  You  would  not  have  justice 
degraded  into  a  mere  instrument  of  selffishness — an 
armor  to  shield  the  nobility  of  wealth,  but  withheld 
from  the  impoverished  multitudes?  In  past  ages 
the  multitude  have  been  denied  arms,  education, 
liberty  of  thought,  voice  in  government — every 
weapon  of  defense  against  their  'noble'  masters— 
and  now  the  weapon  of  justice  is  to  be  withheld,  so 
as  to  perpetuate  their  bondage !  In  an  age  of  light 
all  crime  is  darker,  and  this  one,  perpetrated  in  the 
full  knowledge  of  its  infamy,  were  thereby  made  the 
darkest  of  them  all ! 

"Why  should  the  glitter  of  gold  appeal  to  you 
in  the  full  light  of  its  iniquity  and  shame — never 
again  to  become  a  badge  of  merit  or  distinction  un- 
til Centrism  make  worth  and  wealth  synonymous  ?  Do 
you  really  believe  the  liberality,  charity  and  other 
fineries  with  which  you  surround  your  immediate 
self  can  stay  the  finger  of  accusation  pointing  to  the 
poverty,  the  crime  and  the  bloodshed  directly 


158  The  Making  of  a  Millennium. 

chargeable  to  the  system  you  would  support  and 
from  which  your  fineries  are  derived? 

"Look  at  things  as  they  really  are,  and  not 
through  the  false  light  by  which  they  have  been 
seen  in  the  past ;  ask  yourself  whether  It  were  better 
to  be  dispossessed  of  a  tainted  affluence, — but  not 
pauperized  as  you  put  it, — or  to  be  dispossessed  of 
all  respect  and  manhood? 

' '  If  you  consider  it  an  affliction  to  part  with  this 
unrighteous  privilege,  what  language  shal>  define 
the  horrors  to  which  the  multitude  has  for  ages  been 
subjected  under  your  system  of  merciless  and  real 
pauperization!  Imagine  a  world-wide  disposses- 
sion in  progress  from  day  to  day,  from  year  to  year, 
from  century  to  century!  A  maddening  disposses- 
sion that  stripped  the  workingman  to  the  very  bone, 
—that  corrupted  his  soul,  that  Jiounded  his  life  with 
indescribable  misery  and  wretchedness ! 

11  Consider  the  economic  situation:  Opportun- 
ity, the  key  to  God's  household,  in  the  hands  of  the 
abstainer;  and  no  man  permitted  to  enter  without 
the  price  of  admission — the  pound  of  flesh.  What 
else  were  the  profits  exacted  but  so  much  flesh — liv- 
ing flesh,  imbued  with  soul  and  dripping  with  blood 
— a  reality  and  no  mere  metaphor !  What  else  were 
those  margins  of  profit  but  bricks  of  the  house  of 
possession — bricks  that  were  to  keep  the  body  in 
flesh,  the  mind  informed,  the  soul  cheered.  They 
were  bricks  of  liberty  if  retained, — but  if  parted 
with,  death  and  bondage.  And  these  bricks  had  to 
be  sacrificed  as  the  only  alternative  to  exclusion  as 
outcasts,  starvelings,  tramps! 

"Seemingly  harmless  and  beautiful,  the  smiling 
serpent  of  abstention  was  a  dragon  from  whose 


Where  Art  Thou,  Adam?  159 

body,  as  from  the  fabled  hedgehog,  poured  myriads 
of  invisible  little  daggers  of  dispossession.  Onward 
advanced  this  smiling  but  terrible  monster — this  ir- 
resistible battery  of  daggers  which  no  man  saw  but 
which  all  men  felt.  Onward  strode  the  devouring 
beast,  more  powerful  than  all  mankind.  Onward 
sped  the  bristling  monster,  like  a  conqueror,  driv- 
ing all  before  him !  How  it  drove  men,  pell  mel.1,  into 
a  whirl  of  rout  and  confusion  and  into  a  bitterness  of 
strife  in  which  they  tore  one  another  to  pieces !  It 
was  indeed  a  rout  of  shame— a  rout  of  madness! 

"  Shorn  of  opportunity,  driven  by  the  relent- 
less fury  of  this  pauperizing  monster,  they  one  by 
one,  and  each  by  piecemeal,  lost  what  little  they  had 
of  home,  of  shop,  of  wares — laboring  through  the 
generations  that  went  and  came,  as  in  a  treadmill, 
in  which  they  slaved  and  slaved  and  made  delusive 
progress.  All  they  had  the  routed  multitudes  flung 
to  the  winds  in  their  flight  of  despair  and  abandon- 
ment, parting  not  alone  with  wealth  Ibut  with  char- 
acter, self  respect,  manhood, — even  to  the  last  ves- 
tige of  human  semblance, — leaving  their  thousands 
spoiled  to  the  nakedness  of  beasts ! 

"What  answer  could  these  mortals  have  given, 
had  the  call  come  from  the  Lord,  'Where  art  thou, 
Adam?' 

' '  Aye,  where  art  thou  ?  What  art  thou  doing  to 
stem  the  tide  of  rout?  What  doing  to  defend  thy 
Eden?  Hast  let  into  thy  garden  the  serpent  of  ab- 
stention with  his  lying  tongue,  false  cheapness?  Hast 
listened  to  him?  Hast  tasted  of  his  fruit— loans, 
hired  homes  and  hireling  jobs,  hired  roadways  and 
hired  public  utilities?  Hast  worn  these  gilded  fet- 
ters? Hast  been  down  upon  thy  face  worshipping 


160 


The  Making  of  a  Millennium. 


Where  Art  Thou,  Adam?  161 

the  serpent  of  abstention — the  god  of  mammon? 
Craven  souls,  what  answer  shall  ye  give  when  the 
call  again  comes,  'Where  art  thou,  Adam?' 

"Will  you  answer,  saying,  'Lord,  all  is  well;  we 
have  seen  no  serpent  in  the  garden.  We  are  not 
living  in  the  nakedness  of  dispossession.'  Will  ye 
lie  to  Him  with  the  shamelessness  of  the  serpent? 
Will  ye  deny  the  rout — the  deadly  stampede  of  blind- 
ed selfishness  in  which  ye  trample  over  one  another 
like  beasts,  every  tie  of  brotherhood  rent — a  divided 
being  whose  visionless  hands  pluck  out  his  very 
eyes?  Will  ye  seek  to  hide  from  heaven  the  naked- 
ness of  your  status,  fallen  tcr  the  uttermost  depths? 
Will  ye  still  deny  the  division  of  your  house  and  the 
flight  of  dispossession? 

"Ah,  my  friend,"  the  venerable  speaker  re- 
sumed after  a  pause,  turning  to  the  former  steel 
magnate,  "the  disinheritance  of  mankind  is  quite  a 
different  dispossession  from  that  which  would  be 
imposed  upon  outworld  capitalists  by  Centrism. 
They  would  not  be  sent  adrift  as  outcasts;  they 
would  not*  be  rendered  homeless,  nor  left  encumb- 
ered ;  they  would  not  be  severed  from  opportunity,— 
a  prey  to  starvation.  They  would  be  merely  trans- 
ferred from  an  atmosphere  of  delusion  into  a  world 
of  realty — a  world  not  of  extremes,  but  of  healthy 
prosperity  and  honest  thrift.  In  the  dignity  of  man- 
hood and  self  respect  they  would  stand  as  far  above 
their  previous  selves  as  an  honest  man  towers  above 
the  level  of  the  thief !  What  becomes  of  the  boasted 
charity  of  your  wealthy  citizens,  if  restitution,  which 
should  precede  charity,  is  to  be  denied?  Where 
shall  they  stand  hereafter,  coming  into  court  for 
protection  to  their  property,  yet  denying  protection 


162  The  Making  of  a  Millennium. 

to  that  of  others — yea,  with  the  taint  of  their  falsely- 
acquired  wealth  still  clinging  to  them?  What  inter- 
est will  a  denuded  multitude  have  in  lending  their 
support  to  laws  making  flesh  of  the  rich  man's 
wealth  and  fish  of  the  poor  man 's  wage  f ' ' 

"Were  the  evils  of  abstention  but  half  as  bad 
as  you  have  painted  them,"  the  Philadelphian  coldly 
protested,  after  some  reflection,  "I  would  be  ready 
to  concede  the  wisdom  of  putting  Centrism  in  force. 
In  my  judgment,  however,  there  is  little  need  of 
•them  in  my  country;  a  poor  man  there  is  always 
able  by  thrift  and  enterprise  to  rise  to  the  pinnacle 
of  wealth. ' ' 

"Every  poor  boy  in  our  country,"  replied  Mr. 
Oswald,  "is  said  to  have  a  chance  to  become  presi- 
dent some  day;  but  you'll  agree  it  wouldn't  be  very 
wise  in  him  to  barter  away  any  political  rights  for 
that  chance.  Do  you  think  it  were  wise  in  the  work- 
ing classes  to  forego  the  two-thirds  or  three-rourths 
of  the  wage  they  are  now  losing,  for  the  sake  of  one 
chance  in  a  thousand  of  acquiring  a  fortune.  I  would 
rather  advise  them,  if  they  wanted  fortunes,  to  in- 
vest in  a  lottery  and  thus  win  them  more  honestly 
and  with  less  delusion  than  by  such  thrift.  The 
thrift,  that  carries  in  it  theft  of  opportunity,  cannot 
be  cozened  into  respectability.  Let  the  workingman 
have  what -is  due  him;  that  is  all  he  asks — were  it 
even  less  than  his  fathers  had  before  him." 

"I  can  see  clearly,"  Mr.  Carson  finally  admit- 
ted, "that  we  capitalists  would  have  a  poor  case  to 
take  into  court;  and  yet,  on  my  return  to  the  out- 
world,  I  dare  say,  I'll  try  to  bluff  it  out.  Nothing 
succeeds  like  success;  and  I've  seen  more  than  one 
poor  case  successfully  pulled  through  the  courts.  I 
will  very  likely  simply  keep  cool  and  hold  the  fort." 


Where  Art  Thou,  Adam?  163 

"You  are  at  liberty  to  hold  the  fort  if  you  de- 
sire to,"  indignantly  retorted  Mr.  Oswald,  "you 
may  go  on  sowing  dragon's  teeth;  but  when  they 
crop  up, — each  separate  tooth  an  armed  warrior 
bent  on  destruction, — on  whom  will  be  the  blame? 
You  may  go  on  sowing  the  seeds  of  repulsion — in- 
jecting your  thousands  of  toll  gates  along  the  high- 
ways of  human  necessity,  excluding  all  who  refuse 
your  tolls  and  driving  them  into  the  byways  of 
wasteful  isolation.  You  may  exclude  the  multitude 
from  free  co-operation,  and  with  your  sharp  wedges 
of  ejection  sever  all  the  bonds^of  affiliation— driving 
man  from  man  in  every  field  of  occupation  and  along 
every  phase  of  existence — rending,  dwarfing  and 
distorting  every  faculty  of  mind,  every  organ  of  the 
body — building  up  one  vast  overgrown  abnormity  of 
both  individual  and  collective  development, — all 
weakened  and  diseased  and  deformed.  You  may 
continue  your  man-killing  and  nation-killing  devas- 
tations as  in  the  past,  inscribing  on  every  page  of 
history  the  skull  and  cross  bones  of  your  piracy! 
You  may  fill  the  earth  with  the  tombs  of  buried  na- 
tions, and  lead  on, — fettered  in  chains  of  bondage,— 
your  paralytic  survivors,  whose  anaemic  industrial 
bodies  have  other  causes  than  capitalism  to  thank 
for  their  prolonged  existence.  But  for  periods  of 
respite  gained  in  new  and  not  yet  capital-burdened 
lands;  but  for  the  undercurrent  of  progress,  im- 
pelled onward  through  science  and  education — but 
for  these,  and  other  mighty  resistances  to  low  stand- 
ards, the  suicidal  influence  of  capitalism  had  long 
ago  swept  this  earth  like  a  devouring  pestilence, 
leaving  it  one  vast  burial  ground  of  desolation."  % 


164  The  Making  of  a  Millennium. 

Reflecting  afterwards  upon  the  remarks  I  had 
overheard,  I  was  perfectly  horror  stricken.  The 
thought  of  the  millions  in  the  outworld  eking  out  a 
wretched  existence  in  the  slums  was  sickening 
enough;  and  the  wrangling  hell  of  war  and  strife, 
of  overwork  and  worry,  and  gnawing  disappoint- 
ment,— what  an  appalling  array  of  separate  tor- 
tures these  added  to  the  load  of  woe  this  groaning 
Atlas  had  to  bear — a  burden  so  full  of  horrors  that 
the  human  eye  sees  but  its  shadows,  and  keen  imag- 
ination dares  but  hint  at  them. 

Not  labor,  not  honest  sweat,  had  been  Adam's 
curse.  These  are  natural  to  man's  happiness;  they 
belonged  in  Eden.  But  the  outcast  status — to  labor 
by  permission,  seeking  place  upon  cringed  knee,  in 
the  sweat  of  strife, — with  his  hand  against  his  broth- 
er to  decide  which  shall  trample,  which  be  trampled 
on;  which  work,  which  starve  in  dispossession — the 
rack  of  this  ignoble  status,  this  was  Adam's  curse. 

This  was  the  curse.  The  tempter  had  come  to 
our  first  parents  holding  to  their  gaze  the  apple  of 
loan — the  fruit  of  abstinence, — which  was  the  for- 
bidden fruit.  The  serpent  told  them  it  was  good. 
They  had  not  yet  learned  to  doubt.  In  their  inno- 
cence they  were  blind,  and  they  partook  of  the  ac- 
cursed fruit.  From  that  moment,  by  imperceptible 
degrees,  the  fair  garden  began  to  fade-^its  charm, 
its  abundance,  its  security,  its  innocence — and  then 
also  division  and  dissensions  arose — strife,  blood- 
shed and  agonies  untold.  The  sky  frowned  ever 
blacker;  dark  clouds  shot  swift  arrows  of  hate  into 
man's  bosom;'  and  the  battle  of  the  ages  began  to 
rage  till  the  rivers  ran  red  with  the  blood  of  a  mil- 
lion Abels.  Lo,  the  broad  vistas  of  Eden  were  being 


Where  Art  Thou,  Adam?  165 

encircled  by  the  serpent,  and  the  earth  had  no  longer 
room  for  the  children  of  man.  The  human  family  had 
become  accursed  wanderers — homeless,  fatherless, 
Godless.  Godless  indeed,  with  every  man's  hand 
raised  against  his  brother.  Well  indeed  might  the 
call  be  made  in  this  day  of  our  nakedness :  1 1  Where 
art  thou,  Adam?" 


CHAPTER  XII. 

Homeward  Bound. 

"Men  of  thought!   be  up  and  stirring 

Night  and  day: 
Sow  the  seed — withdraw  the  curtain — 

Clear  the  way! 
Men  of  action,  aid  and  cheer  them 

As  ye  may! 

There's  a  fount  about  to  stream, 
There's  a  light  about  to  beam, 
There's  a  warmth  about  to  glow, 
There's  a  flower  about  to  blow; 
There's  a  midnight  blackness  changing 

Into  gray; 
Men  of  thought  and  men  of  action, 

Clear  the  way." 

— Mackay. 

Without  waiting  for  the  enlargement  of  the  tun- 
nel an  expedition  was  organized  under  command  of 
Captain  Clark  to  explore  the  region  of  its  outlet 
upon  Outworld  Island,  which  was  to  become  the  gate  - 
way  between  the  two  worlds;  and  no  one  felt  more 
thankful  than  myself  on  learning  that  my  offer  to 
join  had  been  accepted. 

It  was  a  long  and  arduous  journey,  having  to 
drag  our  luggage  through  this  narrow  aperture,  and 
not  only'  being  obliged  to  stoop  all  the  way,  but 
suffering  terribly  from  the  foul  atmosphere  within. 
All  our  distress  was  nevertheless  soon  forgotten, 
after  emerging  into  the  fair  daylight,  where  the 
crisp  air,  the  crimson  glory  of  a  semi-trophical  sun- 
set, and  the  exercise  of  our  cramped  limbs,  seemed 
to  refresh  all  our  energies. 


Homeward   Bound.  167 

Not  twenty  yards  from  the  spot  at  which  we  had 
emerged  was  a  fine  stream  by  the  side  of  which  we 
pitched  our  tents,  retiring  at  an  early  hour.  In  the 
morning,  scarcely  having  been  allowed  sufficient  time 
to  fairly  gulp  down  my  breakfast,  I  was  required  to 
join  our  chief  in  the  ascent  of  a  peak  overlooking  the 
camp.  We  were  to  locate  a  place  up  there  for  a  sig- 
nal station  from  which  to  hail  passing  vessels. 

The  upward  journey  was  naturally  circuitous, 
but  on  an  easy  incline, — our  worst  difficulty  being  to 
force  our  way  through  the  dense  tangles  of  brush 
and  brier.  Here  and  there  we  passed  through  beau- 
tiful glades  shaded  by  stately  palms,  under  whose 
friendly  shelter  we  frequently"  lingered  to  recuper- 
ate our  exhausted  limbs.  At  intervals,  when  in  range 
of  the  camp,  we  would  signal  to  our  comrades  below, 
whose  responses  were  a  welcome  sound  in  the  awful 
solitude  of  the  region. 

Delicious  wild  fruits,  grapes  and  berries  were 
occasionally  encountered,  and  thousands  of  monster 
rabbits  infested  the  brush,  one  of  whom  caught  by 
my  companion  in  the  fork  of  a  notched  stick  had 
afterwards  followed  us  quite  a  distance,  like  a  pet 
dog.  Birds  of  brilliant  plumage  were  also  in  abund- 
ant evidence ;  but  I  do  not  recall  a  single  songster. 

Ascending  to  a  great  height,  far  beyond  signal- 
ing distance,  we  turned  a  sharp  curve,  upon  which 
the  Captain  raised  his  field  glass,  and  after  some  ef- 
fort, managed  to  sight  the  camp. 

"By  Jupiter!"  he  suddenly  exclaimed,  "they're 
hailing  us  to  come  back.  What  the  deuce  can  they 
mean?" 

Then  a  pistol  shot  rang  out,  and  was  followed 
by  another;  and  then  several  more,  until  the  hills 
echoed  with  their  reverberations. 


168  The  Making  of  a  Millennium. 

My  companion  handed  me  the  glass,  and  as  I 
gazed  in  the  direction  of  the  camp,  I  could  see  the 
whole  crowd  rushing  toward  the  mouth  of  the  tun- 
nel. 

What  could  it  mean!  We  were  both  at  our  wit's 
end  to  account  for  their  strange  action.  It  certainly 
boded  no  good. 

The  Captain  took  another  glance,  only  to  con- 
firm what  I  had  seen. 

"Shiver  my  timbers!"  the  old  salt  exclaimed, 
"I  believe  something  has  hapened  to  the  tunnel,  and 
something  very  serious;  or  else  they  would  have 
waited  for  us." 

By  the  time  we  had  each  taken  another  look 
through  the  glass,  not  a  man  of  them  was  to  be  seen. 

Instinctively,  without  another  word,  we  both 
started  to  go  back,  recklessly  tumbling  and  sliding 
down  many  a  steep  declivity  to  shorten  the  distance. 

Arriving  finally  at  the. camp,  our  worst  fears 
were  realized, — a  note  tacked  at  the  door  of  our  tent 
informing  us  that  a  leak  had  been  discovered  in  the 
tunnel.  The  latter  was  in  danger  of  flooding  and 
complete  destruction  in  less  than  three  hours  unless 
in  the  meantime  ~a  permanent  repair  should  be  ef- 
fected. 

I  was  about  to  start  on  a  rush  for  the  tunnel 
when  my  companion  caught  me  by  the  arm. 

"Hold  on,  Ben,"  he  cried,  "what  d'  ye  mean 
flying  into  that  death  trap ! ' ' 

"We  don't  want  to  be  marooned!"  I  exclaimed, 
endeavoring  to  tear  myself  away.  "Why  not  save 
ourselves?" 

"We'll  be  more  likely  to  save  ourselves  by  re- 
maining right  here  than  by  flying  into  that  hole.  As 


Homeward   Bound.  169 

to  being  marooned,  this  place  isn't  so  Bad — with 
food  plentiful,  and  as  lovely  a  spot  as  one  could  well 
imagine.  Besides,  if  the  tunnel's  gone  up,  we're  on 
the  right  side  here  to  reach  the  outworld  with  Tem- 
ploria's  message." 

I  made  no  further  attempt  to  enter  the  dark  hole 
of  the  tunnel,  and  well  enough  for  me ;  for  about  an 
hour  later,  a  pebble  thrown  into  its  depths  resound- 
ed with  a  splash  that  told  the  whole  story.  The  un- 
derground passage  was  flooded.  We  were  now  doubly 
marooned,  exiled  from  either  world — doomed  pos- 
sibly to  remain  here  for  the  rest  of  our  days.  Who 
could  tell. 

"  We  arose  in  good  spirits  nevertheless  on  the  fol- 
lowing morning,  resuming  the  ascent  so  abruptly 
terminated  on  the  previous  day.  The  erection  of  a 
signal  station  was  now  more  than  ever  imperative. 
By  evening  we  had  already  located  a  favorable  spot 
for  the  station,  and  we  felt  greatly  relieved  when  we 
threw  ourselves  upon  the  ground  to  enjoy  our 
night's  rest. 

Eeturning  to  camp  on  the  following  day,  we 
cached  the  bulk  of  the  supplies  and  commenced  car- 
rying the  remainder  in  installments  to  the  station 
on  the  summit — a  task  occupying  the  best  part  of  a 
week. 

Settled  down  finally  in  our  new  quarters,  we 
went  to  work  with  a  vim,  gathering  a  store  of  fire- 
wood and  cutting  down  timbers  for  our  signal  sta- 
tion, whose  plan  my  companion  would  not  divulge. 

I  worked  faithfully  under  his  orders  neverthe- 
less, assisting  him  in  what  ways  I  could.  Five  pairs 
of  tall  poles  had  first  to  be  set  up  in  a  row,  facing 
the  sea, — no  easy  task  with  the  limited  facilities  at 


170 


The  Making  of  a  Millennium. 


our  command.  Under  the  Captain's  direction,  how- 
ever, with  the  aid  of  tough  grape  vines  in  lieu  of 
ropes,  we  managed  by  a  slow  but  gradual  process  to 
set  in  place  the  bulky  timbers. 


Our  Distress  Signal. 

After  the  poles  were  up  I  had  the  pleasure  of 
watching  my  companion  interweave  the  portion  of 
space  between  with  leafy  branches,  his  work  by  de- 
grees acquiring  a  sufficient  completeness  to  reveal 
the  formation  of  distinct  alphabetical  letters.  The 
letters  "H"  and'"L"  were  the  first  I  could  de- 
cipher; and  soon  after  the  letters  of  the  word 
"HJELP"  appeared,  formed  as  legibly  as  if  it  had 
been  chalked  out  on  a  wall.  There  it  stood,  the  word 
"HELP"  in  bold  capital  letters,  their  base  elevated 


Homeward   Bound.  171 

about  four  feet  above  the  ground.  Back  of  it  the 
ground  sloped  upward,  leaving  a  nearly  level  strip 
on  which  to  light  the  bon  fire  that  was  to  illumnate 
and  attract  attention  to  it.  That  word  was  to  be  our 
first  message  to  the  outworld.  Would  it  ever  attract 
the  passing  mariner's  eye?  And  should  we  be  finally 
saved,  how  about  that  greater  message — the  torch 
of  Centrism — that  was  to  cast  its  rays  upon  the  dark 
waters  of  the  sea  of  commerce  ?  Would  the  beclouded 
and  despairing  mariners  upon  that  sea  heed  the 
dangerous  rocks  and  be  piloted  by  Centrism? 

We  had  a  beautiful  outlook  from  our  lofty  emin- 
ence, with  the  unbroken  expanse  of  sea  upon  one 
side,  and  on  the  other, — looming  up  in  matchless 
splendor, — the  vast  wall  of  luminous  vapor  that  sep- 
arated Temploria  from  the  outworld.  Like  massive 
ice  cliffs  they  towered  aloft,  blending  with  the  skies 
in  a  strange  radiance  that  capped  the  blissful  island 
like  a  crown  of  glory. 

While  my  nautical  friend  was  completing  his 
ingenious  device  I  was  busily  engaged  starting  an 
immense  bon  fire  on  the  elevated  strip  of  ground 
back  of  it;  and  as  its  broad  blaze  afterwards  shot 
up  high  in  air,  its  glow  thrilled  me  with  joy  and  hope. 

What  vessel  could  pass  without  reading  that 
single  eloquent  word!  It's  four  letters  spoke  vol- 
umes, communicating  to  the  passing  vessel  the  fact 
that  this  was  no  idle  bon  fire  built  for  savage  festi- 
vities but  a  cry  of  distress  from  a  party  of  Anglo 
Saxons. 

From  the  hour  the  great  blaze  began  to  flicker 
we  kept  on  feeding  our  "baby"  as  we  dubbed  it, 
never  ceasing  to  add  armful  after  armful  of  com- 
bustibles; and  this  task  kept  us  both  so  busy  there 


172  The  Making  ot  a  Millennium. 

• 

was  no  time  left  for  worry  or  anxiety.  From  morn- 
ing till  night  and  from  night  till  morning  we  took 
turns  at  this  work,  to  which  we  soon  became  thor- 
oughly habituated. 

Several  weeks  drifted  by  in  this  manner  with- 
out the  first  sign  of  a  ship.  One  night,  I  believe  it 
was  in  the  fourth  week,  while  my  nautical  friend  was 
on  guard, — as  usual  feeding  the  "baby"  and  alter- 
nately gazing  seaward  as  he  paced  to  and  fro, — it 
seemed  to  him  as  if  the  outline  of  a  vessel  were  dim- 
ly visible.  The  hour  was  just  before  dawn,  and  while 
staring  intently  to  further  assure  himself,  old.  Sol 
came  quietly  bobbing  up,  his  great  candle  exposing 
the  vessel  so  distinctly  that  doubt  was  no  longer  pos- 
sible. 

Overjoyed  at  this  revelation,  he  ran  forthwith  to 
the  tent  where  I  was  lying  asleep ;  and  shaking  me  up 
most  unceremoniously,  he  went  on  shouting  and 
prancing  as  if  possessed. 

The  suddenness  of  my  waking  startled  me,  and 
the  sight  of  my  companion  carrying  on  like  a  wild 
man  served  only  to  intensify  my  bewilderment. 

"A  ship!  a  ship,  Ben,  we're  saved!"  he  cried 
at  the  top  of  his  voice ;  and  he  kept  on  repeating  the 
words  as  if  he  had  gone  daft. 

As  the  meaning  of  these  words  dawned  upon 
me,  a  great  thrill  of  joy  filled  my  heart  and  I  rushed 
out,  determined  to  see  for  myself. 

By  this  time  it  was  clear  daylight,  and  the  ves- 
sel was  plainly  visible  to  the  naked  eye. 

It  was  now  my  turn  to  lose  self  control;  and  I 
flew  at  once  into  the  Captain's  arms,  hugging  and 
whirling  him  around  in  a  wild  dance  over  the  rough 
sod. 


Homeward   Bound.  173 

Clearer  and  clearer  grew  the  outlines  of  the  ap- 
proaching vessel,  and  as  we  took  turns  soon  after  in 
glancing  through  our  field  glass,  we  could  discern  a 
boat  that  had  been  lowered, — a  mere  speck  on  the 
horizon, — heading  for  the  shore. 

Without  a  moment's  further  delay  we  now 
started  on  the  downward  journey;  hurrying  along 
at  a  breakneck  speed;  performing  acrobatic  feats 
and  odd  stunts  we  would  never  ordinarily  have 
dared  to  risk,  and  finally  arriving  at  the  beach  just 
as  the  small  boat  was  pulling  in.  We  waded  out  to 
meet  it,  and  were  soon  being  borne  onward  toward 
the  great  ship. 

To  make  a  long  story  short,  we  were  taken  safe- 
ly aboard  the  British  steamer  " Huxley,"  bound  for 
Liverpool  with  a  cargo  of  Australian  wheat. 

The  captain  of  the  vessel  at  first  flatly  refused 
to  believe  our  story ;  and  not  until  we  had  gone  over 
all  the  details  of  our  experience,  explaining  the 
magic  of  Centrism  and  describing  the  wonderful  fa- 
cilities of  templism  and  the  unique  features  of  Bed 
Cross,  would  he  give  our  words  any  credence. 

My  companion  fortunately  had  friends  in  Liver- 
pool from  whom  we  secured  the  means  of  return  to 
New  York,  where  our  arrival  had  been  anticipated 
through  Liverpool  dispatches, — taken  by  wireless 
prior  to  our  landing  there,  and  cabled  to  New  York 
on  the  same  day. 

My  parents  had  already  given  me  up  for  dead, 
and  their  joy  may  be  imagined — first  on  receiving 
the  news  of  my  rescue  by  the  " Huxley,"  and  after- 
wards on  greeting  me  as  I  stepped  ashore. 

With  what  eagerness  the  old  folks  listened  to  my 
narrative,  now  nodding  approval  and  anon  shaking 


174  The  Making  of  a  Millennium. 

their  heads  with  doubt,  at  its  strange  incidents.  On 
explaining  to  father  how  Centrism  had  dissolved  the 
old  order, — completely  eradicating  capitalism, — he 
seemed  staggered  at  the  revelation.  His  mind  was 
in  a  strange  quandary,  shocked  at  this  reversal  of  all 
previous  experience,  yet  able  to  interpose  no  ra- 
tional objection  to  its  truth  and  consistency.  Doubt 
the  achievement  as  he  would,  its  clear  philosophy 
soon  dissipated  the  last  remnant  of  fog  lingering  in 
his  mind,  and  his  repugnance  was  soon  turned  into 
an  unbounded  enthusiasm  in  its  favor.  He  even 
went  so  far  as  to  maintain  it  was  the  only  salvation 
for  modern  society. 

One  of  the  first  things  I  did  after  my  home  ar- 
rival was  to  visit  the  scene  of  the  labor  fracas  to 
which  my  remarkable  adventure  was  due.  Strange 
to  say,  no  one  in  the  vicinity  seemed  to  recall  that 
singular  event.  Even  the  whereabouts  of  Margaret 
was  a  mystery  I  was  unable  to  solve  until  on  the  sec- 
ond day  of  my  search,  when  I  accidentally  stumbled 
upon  her  settlement  home, — now  deserted.  Through 
neighbors  I  was  directed  to  her  place  of  residence, 
learning  also  to  my  chagrin  that  she  was  confined 
there  in  the  last  stage  of  consumption. 

Calling  at  the  residence,  it  was  only  after  con- 
siderable persuasion  that  I  was  permitted  to  see  her. 
A  pale,  emancipated  woman  with  flushed  cheeks, 
regular  features  and  a  pair  of  singularly  sparkling 
blue  eyes,  greeted  me,  modestly  apologizing  for  not 
rising  to  meet  me. 

Reciting  briefly  the  incidents  of  the  memorable 
clash  between  the  rival  labor  factions,  I  introduced 
myself,  asking  her  if  she  could  still  recall  the  inci- 
dent. 


Homeward   Bound.  175 

1 1  Yes,  yes,  I  remember ; ' '  she  quickly  responded, 
"were  you  there?" 

I  thereupon  narrated  the  sequel  to  this  incident 

— telling  how  I  had  been  injured  by  a  flying  missile, 

*  my  revival  aboard  ship  and  the  delirium  in  which  I 

had  witnessed  squads  of  workingmen  parading  with 


I  Tell  My  Story. 

banners  calling  for  "A  Hundred  Jobs  for  Every 
Hundred  Men." 

"Oh  that  your  dream  had  been  true!"  she  ex- 
claimed with  a  fierce  earnestness.  "That  getting  of 
the  full  hundred  jobs  is  the  real  quest  of  labor's 
knighthood.  There  should  be  a  job  for  every  man; 
and  until  there  is,  there  will  never  be  a  full  wage." 

She  remained  silent  for  a  while  after  the  exer- 
tion of  this  speech,  and  then  resumed,  confiding  to 


176  The  Making  of  a  Millennium. 

me  her  sympathy  for  the  scheme  of  socialism  which 
in  her  opinion  was  some  day  to  be  perfected.  Be- 
lieving thus,  she  had  devoted  herself  to  settlement 
work  and  had  urged  upon  the  working  classes  the 
quest  for  the  full  hundred  jobs,  warning  them  not  to  ' 
allow  their  energies  to  become  completely  absorbed 
in  the  strife  for  the  poorly  paid  thirty  they  now  had. 

Margaret  had  evidently  no  idea  of  Centrism, 
whose  fundamental  principal  her  keen  intuitive 
judgment  had  anticipated  in  her  call  for  the  full 
hundred  jobs. 

On  relating  my  Templorian  experiences  and  de- 
tailing the  features  of  Centrism,  her  countenance  as 
sumed  a  wonderful  radiance;  and  raising  herself 
from  the  pillow,  she  gazed  at  me  with  a  rapture  I 
had  never  before  seen  in  mortal  face.  Every  word 
and  sentence  she  seemed  to  weigh  as  it  came  from  my 
lips,  with  marvelous  apprehension. 

To  my  surprise  after  I  had  finished,  she  rose 
from  her  couch,  and  grasping  my  hand,  fervently 
thanked  me  for  the  good  tidings. 

' l  Though  I  shall  not  survive  to  witness  the  glor- 
ies of  the  coming  social  resurrection,  my  brother," 
she  resumed,  reclining  once  more  upon  her  pillow, 
' '  the  light  of  my  life  shall  not  go  out  like  a  ship  sink- 
ing in  the  midst  of  storm  and  darkness,  but  as  one 
entering  upon  a  pleasant  voyage,  in  the  full  reful- 
gence of  day.  My  soul  will  take  wing  gazing  toward 
the  heaven  of  that  higher  plane  foreshadowed  in 
your  message — a  new  environment  for  humanity— 
a  new  soil  for  that  great  tree  of  which  we  are  as  the 
leaves  and  in  whose  greater  life  our  lives  are  truly 
made  immortal." 


Homeward   Bound.  177 

' l  You  evidently  believe  in  the  unity  and  the  eter- 
nity of  life  ? "  I  interrogated. 

"Life  is  a  great  pendulum,  beating  across  the 
eternities;"  she  resumed,  "back  and  forth,  back  and 
forth  it  swings — twixt  waking  and  slumber,  forma- 
tion and.  dissolution,  parting  and  reunion,  life  and 
death — one  eternal  coming  and  going,  accompanied 
with  endless  rounds  of  lights  and  shades — joy  and 
sorrow,  pleasure  and  pain,  hope  and  despair.  No 
extreme  but  reacts ;  naught  leaving  but  returns.  In 
the  pathway  of  voluntary  activity  there  is  but  one 
guiding  star — the  light  that  leads  onward,  upward — 
toward  growth,  expansion,  progress. 

"I  do  not  know  what  is  your  belief,  my  brother, 
but  to  me  our  here  is  yesterday's  hereafter;  and  to- 
morrow will  be  the  hereafter  of  today.  We  are  the 
same  life  remoulded;  and  although  individual  con- 
nection with  past  beings  cannot  be  traced,  are  we 
any  less  the  likenesses  of  those  who  have  preceded 
us —  composites  of  the  self-same  attributes,  the  same 
affections,  the  same  vision  and  impulse,  given  the 
same  flesh  and  moved  by  the  same  heart  throbs- 
differing  less  perhaps  than  the  self-same  mortal 
passing  his  journey  from  infancy  to  ripe  age?  Can 
we  strain  our  fancy  to  embrace  as  one  being  the  tiny 
infant,  the  prancing  schoolboy,  the  stalwart  adult 
and  the  bent  and  shrunken  graybeard,  and  yet  stare 
blankly  at  returning  friends  and  lovers  because  the 
grave  and  the  mask  of  place  and  time  intervene  to 
hide  their  identity!  To  me  every  love  and  every  af- 
finity, is  the  resurrection  of  a  former  love,  and  there 
is  no  break  in  the  chain  of  life  or  love.  I  revere  the 
dead  most  in  honoring  the  living;  for  the  living  are 
the  dead,  whose  lives  are  carried  forward  through 


178  The  Making  of  a  Millennium. 

the  living.  Nothing  dieth  but  to  be  born  again,  even 
as  the  dead  planets  are  absorbed  to  the  living  ones ; 
and  so  in  all  life  the  living  absorbs  the  dying  and  the 
dead.  Like  the  circling  orbs  of  heaven  we  meet 
again  in  endlessly  repeated  cycles,  and  it  is  our  own 
fault  if  we  fail  to  greet  the  new  loves  as  the  return 
of  parted  ones. 

"Rightly  we  are  dual  creatures,  each  a  distinct 
but  inseparable  part  of  the  one  body  that  is  man- 
kind, the  immortal  man;  and  living  this  dual  life, 
feeling  with  and  responding  to  the  collective  as  well 
as  the  individual  impulses — living  the  life  of  the  all- 
self  that  is  humanity  as  well  as  the  individual  self, 
the  fullness  of  our  life  as  well  as  its  immortality  will 
be  realized.  If  we  do  our  part,  striving  for  the  good 
of  all  as  well  as  for  the  good  of  the  narrower  self, 
believe  me,  no  grave  will  e  'er  seem  narrow—  -no  night 
seem  dark." 

Deeply  impressed  by  the  remarkable  views  of 
this  woman,  I  remained  silent,  wrapt  in  contem- 
plation— the  patient  meanwhile,  fatigued  by  her  ex- 
treme effort,  sinking  gradually  into  a  profound 
slumber. 

Calling  again  upon  the  following  day,  T  was 
shocked  and  sorely  grieved  to  learn  that  our  heroine 
had  passed  away  in  the  early  hours  of  the  morning, 
having  been  delirious  much  of  the  time.  In  some  of 
these  spells  she  had  fancied  herself  addressing  hosts 
of  workingmen,  urging  them  to  strike  for  "the  full 
hundred  jobs."  "Strike,  I  tell  you,  strike!"  she 
would  cry  out  in  the  dead  hours,  "Strike  at  the  bal- 
lot box,  for  Centrism;  for  a  hundred  jobs  to  every 
hundred  men!"  These  were  her  last  words. 


Homeward   Bound.  179 

Two  days  later  I  attended  the  funeral  and  saw 
laid  away  the  remains  of  this  heroic  woman,  mar- 
tyred in  the  rescue  of  fellow  beings  whose  lives  had 
been  warped  on  the  rack  of  modern  commercialism ; 
and  then  I  asked  myself  how  many  more  martyrs 
this  monster  will  crave.  How  long  will  this  mino- 
taur  continue  to  ravage  the  earth? 


The  following  day  I  began  again  to  mingle  in 
the  bustle  of  outworld  activity;  and  how  strangely 
now  a  baneful  gloom,  as  of  some  new  thraldom, 
seemed  to  darken  my  horizon.  The  atmosphere  of 
my  surroundings  boded  anv  indescribable  but  awful 
change.  I  felt  as  if  somehow  plunged  centuries  and 
centuries  back  into  some  dark  age  in  which  one  had 
to  grovel  and  stoop,  constantly  dodging  and  hiding 
in  order  to  escape  its  daily  downpour  of  abuse.  Did 
I  really  belong  here,  where  people  would  stare  at  me 
and  look  askant  at  each  candid  expression  of  my 
thoughts  or  sentiments'?  How  they  would  whisper 
and  wink  with  knowing  looks,  and  keep  at  a  distance, 
as  if  I  had  been  an  escaped  lunatic.  How  many 
thoughts  I  had  to  conceal  to  avoid  misinterpretation 
and  abuse  and  to  obviate  the  waste  of  my  faculties 
in  petty  strife ! 

With  all  its  frivolities,  its  dominant  note  was 
sad  and  depressing — its  faces  dark  with  anxiety, 
worry,  despair  and  weariness.  The  great  majority 
rushed  hither  and  thither  as  if  driven  by  a  relent- 
less fate.  No  man  was  behind  them,  yet  whips— 
ever  so  invisible — -were  impelling  them  on  as  truly 
as  ever  lash  fell  upon  the  back  of  a  slave.  Shop 
windows  and  all  exposed  surfaces  on  the  streets 


180  The  Making  of  a  Millennium. 

seemed  to  be  placarded  with  appeals  pitifully  im- 
ploring attention.  Behind  the  eloquent  posters  and 
between  their  lines  I  could  detect  men  down  upon 
their  knees,  and  not  poor  men  either, — begging  for 
trade,  so  as  to  secure  as  profits  the  portion  of 
value  which  the  short-value  wage  scales  of  com- 
merce failed  to  deliver.  I  could  almost  hear  the  mad 
bull  bellowing  of  the  successful  and  the  groans  of 
the  defeated  competitors  in  this  gladiatorial  busi- 
ness arena.  Seldom  I  opened  a  newspaper  but  to  be 
confronted  with  glaring  head  lines  booming  with  the 
the  roar  of  cannon  and  lurid  with  the  flash  of  cursed 
death  missiles  being  poured  into  God's  temples  of 
human  flesh.  Over  these  murders  no  coroner  sits; 
no  nation  asks  for  accounting,  and  the  voice  of  the 
press  is  dumb  with  impotence.  The  heavens  them- 
selves are  silent;  for  whatever  evil  is  in  man's 
power  to  remedy  he  suffers  justly,  while  the  evil 
lasts. 

What  is  to  be  expected  of  thrones  resting  on  the 
hunger  for  unearned  revenue  and  the  thirst  for  un- 
earned dominion1?  Even  the  throne  of  public  opin- 
ion, the  press,  is  a  commercial  kite — a  barometer  of 
affairs  registering  only  the  pressure  of  the  monetary 
atmosphere,  and  therefore  degenerated  into  a  mere 
handbill  and  slave  of  a  corrupt  commerce.  When  the 
public  ear  dare  not  believe  half  that  is  said  by  the 
public  tongue — its  own  heart  beats  drowned  in  the 
clamor  of  hireling  notes — it  is  an  ominous  token. 

Every  day,  wherever  I  chose  to  go,  I  met  hu- 
manity dragging  its  chain,  scraping,  fawning,  beg- 
ging— from  early  morning  till  late  in  the  night — all 
going  to  market  to  dispose  of  their  services,  without 
a  centret  to  show — with  no  more  claim  upon  the  op- 


Homeward   Bound.  181 

portunities  they  had  brought  into  existence  than  had 
the  slave  upon  the  products  his  labor  had  brought 
into  existence.  Degraded  into  dependence,  men  were 
sinking  deeper  and  deeper  into  the  mire — drifting 
whither  chance  led,  impelled  alternately  by  hunger, 
by  despair  and  by  the  ignis  fatuus  of  wealth. 

A  keenly  sensitive  man,  unless  in  some  manner 
especially  gifted  or  favored — and  not  always  then 
—had  no  more  place  under  its  unsocial  roof  than 
had  the  white  laborer  in  the  ante  bellum  South, 
where  common  labor  was  all  done  by  slaves.  The 
sensitive  man,  like  this  white  laborer,  was  simply 
relegated  into  industrial  exile — as  one  of  the  "poor 
white  trash"  of  modern  commercialism. 

I  heard  men  in  turn  groan  over  their  helpless- 
ness and  anon  jest  and  trifle  with  the  very  causes 
making  them  so — treading  among  serpents — indif- 
ferent, cold,  blind — and  alive  only  after  their  own 
blood  is  infected  and  their  own  flesh  agonized  by  the 
reptile  fangs.  Is  it  not  time  humanity  were  roused 
to  see  the  hell  raging  within  itself!  Is  it  not  time 
the  flame  of  the  narrower  selfishness  were  smothered 
—that  humanity  shook  off  its  cuckoo  snake — this  de- 
vouring monster  still  coiled  around  the  quivering 
sweat  fowl  of  industry?  It  it  not  time  the  soul  of 
humanity  were  awakened  to  its  shame — to  realize 
the  dreadful  stain  upon  its  name — the  brand  of 
slavery?  Is  it  not  time  to  cleanse  itself  of  this  vile 
sin  and  prepare  for  the  resurrection — yea,  for  the 
coming  of  the  kingdom? 


How  1  sighed  for  Temploria — Temploria,  that 
mist-encircled    realm    forecasting    the    prophesied 


182  The  Making  of  a  Millennium. 

messianic  reign — that  fairer  world  in  which  the  rack 
of  poverty,  the  depravities  of  vice  and  the  butcher- 
ies of  war  are  unknown. 

But  for  the  hope  of  a  new  Temploria  I  could  not 
have  endured  the  shocking  conditions  that  prevailed 
—so  painful  to  me,  after  my  sojourn  in  that  distant 
land  of  the  millennium.  I  should  indeed  have  sunk 
in  despair  but  for  hope's  candle  peering  through 
every  cloud — heralding  the  near  approach  of  God's 
kingdom. 

The  darkness  of  my  surroundings  was  in  reality 
a  dream,  whose  hideous  image  was  soon  to  fade  in 
the  light  of  the  approaching  day:  for  Temploria 
—the  potential — is  the  real  world,  ordained  to  live 
long  after  the  present  order  has  disappeared  in  the 
gloaming  of  history's  night. 

The  creeds  of  the  world  adhering  to  the  old  or- 
der and  combating  progress  at  every  step — holding 
their  faces  ever  backward  turned — shall  all  petrify 
like  Lot,  dead  monuments  of  disobedience  to  the 
bugle  call  of  God's  creative  march. 

It  matters  not  where  I^go  or  whither  I  turn,  I 
can  see  Temploria — a  queen  of  beauty,  mounted 
upon  the  eternal  rocks  and  glittering  in  the  pure 
light  of  truth  and  justice — the  sun  of  the  coming 
day — resplendent  to  all  but  evil  eyes  and  owlish 
ignorance.  She  rests  upon  no  false  pillars  of  priv- 
ilege and  unbelief.  Her  sword  is  justice,  and  her 
church  is  truth.  Her  people  walk  erect,  proud  men, 
—humanized — no  longer  creeping  ape-like,  nor  lean- 
ing upon  the  crutch  of  blind  authority. 

The .  grand  edict,  the  decalogue, — forbidding 
theft  and  murder, — proclaimed  a  fundamental  and 
wide-spread  liberty — the  liberty  of  each  man  to  live 


Homeward   Bound.  183 

and  to  enjoy  unmolested  the  fruit  of  his  own  in- 
dustry. Not  from  the  clouds  of  Sinai  speaks  the 
Lord  today,  but  from  the  great  heart  of  humanity, 
re-asserting  His  command,  "Thou  shalt  not  steal." 
Thou  shalt  not  steal;  nor  veiled  by  indirection,  rob 
thy  brother  of  either  opportunity  or  of  bread.  Nor 
shalt  thou  starve  thy  brother,  goading  him  to  strife 
and  bloodshed ;  nor  shalt  thou  wantonly,  in  the  name 
of  law,  destroy  thy  fellow  man.  The  name  of  the  law 
shall  not  be  used  in  vain. 

Behold,  the  blood-bespattered  Babylon  of  mod- 
ern mammon — that  hoary  empire  spewed  from  the 
mouth  of  hell — still  thrones  her  upstart  rulers ;  still 
reigns  through  stealthy  scepters ;  still  crowns  power 
above  law! 

Woe  to  her  dynasty !    Woe  unto  her  reign ! 

The  secret  of  her  sorcery  is  revealed :  the  mask 
torn  from  her  lying  visage.  The  fountain  of  her 
darkness  has  been  brought  to  light :  the  source  of  all 
her  mockeries — her  empty  titles  and  her  shallow 
crowns,  her  bloated  gods  and  stilted  palaces — all  the 
deceptive  sheen  and  glitter  of  her  pomp.  Her  bub- 
ble of  false  glory  has  been  burst — her  day-masked 
darkness  swept  into  the  bosom  of  oblivion ! 

For  lo,  the  end  is  nigh!  Again  is  the  writing 
upon  the  wall — the  final  verdict: 

Mene.          Mene.          Tekel.          Upharsin. 

Thy  kingdom  is  ended.  It  hath  been  weighed, 
and  found  wanting.  The  judgment  is  upon  it. 

(FINIS). 


University  of  California 

SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 

405  Hilgard  Avenue,  Los  Angeles,  CA  90024-1388 

Return  this  material  to  the  library 

from  which  it  was  borrowed. 


MAR 


UC  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 


A     000708658     0 


